Over the past decade, Guangzhou Evergrande has been one of the biggest and most successful clubs in Asian football. A technical and economic superpower that has dominated nationally and internationally.
From 2011 to 2019, Guangzhou won eight Championships, two Cups, four Super Cups and two Asian Champions Leagues, the first with Marcello Lippi on the bench, the second with Felipe Scolari. A club that has focused a lot on “made in Italy”, bringing to China players like Diamanti and Gilardino, as well as Fabio Cannavaron, who as a coach won the last championship in 2019.
In addition to winning titles, Guangzhou Evergrande was a superpower in the market. He bought players like Paulinho (from Barcelona for 42 million) or Jackson Martinez (for the same amount from Atletico Madrid), Talisca and Ricardo Goulart (19 and 15 million euros).
Today, however, the situation in Guangzhou is very different. The investments are over and with them the good times. The team currently consists of only Chinese players and the results on the field are increasingly disastrous.
Guangzhou, once dominant, were eliminated from the Asian Champions League (zero points earned and zero goals scored in six games). An epic failure. But that’s not all: Guangzhou are also in serious danger of relegation, currently third from bottom in the standings with just 11 points from 18 games. A winning cycle that has already ended, which risks ending disastrously.
