Yangcheng Evening News reporter Chai Zhi
Since being punished for relegation in 2010 and Evergrande Group took full ownership of it, the Guangzhou team has experienced from the Chinese Premier League to the Chinese Super League in 12 years, from creating the Chinese version of the "Kaiserslautern Championship Myth" to the "Eight Champions of the Chinese Super League". From the champion of the AFC Champions League to the fourth place in the Club World Cup, from the champion of the FA Cup to the champion of the Super Cup, they have won all the championships, big and small; "Stalks" have become the proud talk of Guangzhou fans; from Yuexiushan Stadium to Tianhe Sports Center, Guangzhou fans have never left, and the city of Guangzhou during the two AFC finals was even more crowded; , Cannavaro and Scolari and other foreign coaches, as well as powerful foreign players such as Muriqi, Conca, Paulinho, Talisca... All these are the best memories of Guangzhou fans!
In a reincarnation of 12 years, after losing 1-4 to Changchun Yatai in the 33rd round of the Chinese Super League on December 27, the famous Guangzhou team was once again relegated to the Chinese Premier League. The glory of the past is gone.
Returning to the starting point 12 years later, the team is looking forward to restarting in the Chinese Premier League, dormant training, and waiting for energetic young players to take up a new banner.
The rise and fall of the Guangzhou team "prehistory"
Since Chinese football started its professional league in 1994, the Guangzhou team has experienced the Helios Era, the Geely Era, the Xiangxue Era, the Rizhiquan Era, the Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Era, the Evergrande Era and the Guangzhou Team Era. The trough, but every time it stands firm on the turbulent tide and cleaves the waves.
In 1994, the first year of A-A, the Guangzhou Helios team won the runner-up; in 1996, Guangzhou gathered three top professional teams: Guangzhou Helios, Guangdong Hongyuan, and Guangzhou Songri. This was the first peak of Guangzhou football since its professionalization. But the Guangzhou team only ranked seventh in the league that season, and as many as nine main players left the team after the season ended; in 1998, after the two core players Peng Weiguo and Hu Zhijun left, the Guangzhou team, whose strength was greatly reduced, was finally relegated to the last place in the league.
Since then, the Guangzhou team has been dormant in the secondary league for nine years. During this period, the Guangzhou Medical Team successively invited two famous local coaches, Qi Wusheng and Shen Xiangfu. , and finally promoted to the Chinese Super League three rounds ahead of schedule in 2007, and won the first league championship in professional league history, igniting the Guangzhou football market.
However, there was an anti-gambling storm in Chinese football in 2009. The Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Team was fined and relegated in 2010, and the Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group withdrew immediately.
In March 2010, Evergrande Group wholly bought out the equity of Guangzhou Football Club, and a new era of "eight champions" officially opened.
The peak of the "Eight Crowns" is gone forever
During the Evergrande period, the Guangzhou team completely copied the successful model of the Evergrande women's volleyball team in the early days of the team. It appointed "China Hand" Li Zhangzhu, who has been in the Chinese league for many years and has rich experience in coaching Chinese professional football, as the new coach. Absorbing Zheng Zhi, Gao Lin and other popular international players and high-level foreign aid such as Muric, formed an iron army with strong combat effectiveness and cohesion, and successfully surpassed as the champion of the Chinese Premier League in the first year of taking over.
The Guangzhou team, which is on the stage of the Chinese Super League again, injected a boost to Chinese football. With their high-investment and high-return football business model, they not only achieved double-line victories at home and abroad, but also attracted the attention of the whole people to Chinese football, driving the Chinese Super League into prosperity.
In the summer transfer window of 2011, Kongka became the first foreign player worth tens of millions of dollars in the history of the Chinese Super League. With his almost perfect performance, he won the reputation of "King of Celestial Objects". arena.
In 2012, Lippi took over the coach, and the Guangzhou team also stepped into a new height.
Under the integrated training of the world's famous coaches, the team ushered in the strongest season in 2013: won the Chinese Super League championship with an advantage of 18 points, and won the AFC Champions League for the first time and stood on the top of Asia.
This is the most exciting news in the domestic football circle since the Chinese men's football team entered the World Cup finals for the first time in 2002.
Since then, the Guangzhou team was led by Scolari to win the second AFC Champions League in team history in 2015, and won the domestic Triple Crown for the second time in 2016.
Unlike Lippi's era of thriving, Scolari's era, Chinese football players entered the "Golden Dollar Football" era side by side. Many Chinese Super League clubs copied the successful model of the Guangzhou team and "buy, buy, buy" in the transfer market.
Although the opponent's strength has improved and the Guangzhou team's dominance over the league has gradually declined, they still maintain their monopoly on the Super League championship.
Compared with the midway dismissal in 2015, Cannavaro, who entered the palace for the second time in 2018, is sought after by Guangzhou fans despite his charisma, but the age of the team has tended to age, and the strength of the team and the level of foreign aid are no longer top-notch in the Chinese Super League. , encountered an unprecedented impact from the Super League powers, and was finally terminated by Shanghai Seaport for the glory of the seven consecutive championships.
In 2019, the Guangzhou team fought as a non-defending champion for the first time. New stars such as Wei Shihao, Micro Motion and Yang Liyu set off a youth storm. Exxon and Paulinho took on the offensive task. The latter became the new team after Zheng Zhi faded out In the end, the team completed the great cause of "Eight Champions of the Chinese Super League".
After two years of hard work, the Guangzhou team struggled to survive
After the glory of the "Eight Champions", with the decline of the parent company's blood transfusion capacity, the investment of Guangzhou Football Club has dropped sharply in the past two years. Ka, Exon, Goulart, Jiang Guangtai, etc. left one after another, and the Mesozoic main players Deng Hanwen, Liu Dianzuo and Liao Lisheng also transferred to him to vote. The team's lineup strength and thickness are no longer enough to gain a foothold in the Super League.
In the midst of the ups and downs, Zheng Zhi was ordered twice to lead the team to the third place in the league for the first time, but in the 2022 season, when Zheng Zhi took over the coach of the Guangzhou team from Liu Zhiyu again, he was already determined to kill the enemy and was powerless: the first team The roster of 35 people is the "All China Class", and 29 people are from Evergrande Football School, with an average age of only 21.12 years old.
Even with the return of veterans such as Huang Bowen, Hao Junmin, Rong Hao and Zhang Chenglin, even if young players dare to fight and never give up on the court, the disparity in strength and lack of experience have become an insurmountable gap.
Success is also "golden yuan" and defeat is also "golden yuan". The tragedy of relegation after 12 years.
Over the past 12 years, the Guangzhou team has won countless honors for the city with one Chinese Premier League champion, eight Chinese Super League champions, two AFC Champions League champions, two FA Cup champions and four Super Cup champions. With the mission of inheriting the spirit of Guangzhou football.
Since the beginning of the 2020 season, the biggest gain of the Guangzhou team is undoubtedly that the fresh blood has begun to flow. The youth army with Evergrande Football School as the team has obtained a rare opportunity to exercise and accumulate experience. Youth is capital, and they will be the hope of Guangzhou football in the future.
For the current Guangzhou team, instead of struggling in the Chinese Super League, it may be a rational choice after helplessness to start anew in the Chinese Premier League.
For the future, the Guangzhou team still has three major questions.
The first is survival. The team's wage arrears problem has not been resolved. Even after being relegated to the Chinese Premier League, they still face financial difficulties.
The second is the departure and retention of meritorious veterans such as Zheng Zhi. Although Zheng Zhi failed to lead the team to complete the task of relegation, the meritorious generation headed by him still plays a decisive role in the growth of young players.
Finally, the three main players, Wei Shihao, Yang Liyu, and Yan Dinghao, as well as new stars such as Ling Jie, Tan Kaiyuan, and Eiffelding, will remain. As the core players of the team, they will inevitably be poached next season.
"Yangcheng Evening News" December 28, 2022, page A10