Zhejiang Greentown F.C.
Zhejiang Greentown Football Club is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the China League One division under licence from the Chinese Football Association. The team is based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang and their home stadium is the Hangzhou Huanglong Stadium that has a seating capacity of 52,672. The club's main investor is the Zhejiang-based Greentown China Holdings Limited company, which is owned by real estate tycoon Song Weiping. Greentown became the first sports club from Hangzhou with 1 million followers on Weibo.
The club was founded on January 14, 1998 and they made their debut in the third tier of China's football league pyramid in the 1999 league season. On November 23, 2000 the club bought the first team of Jilin Aodong as well as their position in the second division for 25 million Yuan. They have subsequently won promotion to the top tier after finishing runners-up in the 2006 league season and the highest position they have ever finished is fourth in the 2010 Chinese Super League season. It still remains the top football club in Zhejiang.
History
Zhejiang Greentown Football Club Co., Ltd. was officially established on January 14, 1998 with a capital of 16,000,000 Yuan and Zeng Leming was appointed as their general manager. Greentown Real Estate Company, Hangzhou Qiantang Real Estate Company, Zhejiang University and Zhejiang Provincial Football Association all participated in the creation as well as the registration of the club. The company would go on to form a youth team before finally creating a senior team on January 22, 1999 to take part in the third tier with Bao Yingfu as their first head coach. They wouldn't wait long to show their ambition when they would make the play-offs in 2000 before losing to Tianjin Lifei. Still determined to win promotion the club decided to buy the first team of Jilin Aodong as well as their position in Chinese Football Association Jia League on November 23, 2000 for 25,000,000 Yuan, in time for the beginning of the 2001 league season. Under the new general manager Shen Qiang the club brought in new sponsors and Gu Mingchang as the new Head coach, however during this period the club couldn't win promotion to the top tier and the chairman Song Weiping expressed his disappointment of the team. Song Weiping would soon discover that the reason for his club's disappointing results when it was discovered that several of his players and coaches were taking bribes, with a 6–0 defeat against Changchun Yatai in the 2001 league season being highlighted, which saw the offending participants banned for a year while the club had three months to reform and re-apply for a CFA playing license. This would see the club would go through several management changes as well as a significant ownership shift, which saw Song Weiping's company Greentown China Holdings Limited take a 96% share of the team for 20,000,000 Yuan in 2005 while Zhejiang University held on to 4%.Under Wang Zheng as their Head coach the team would start to generally push for promotion, eventually achieving it at the end of the 2006 league season when they came second in the division. The club often found themselves fighting off relegation and would bring in several managers to alleviate the problem, however this wasn't enough during the 2009 league season and the club found themselves in the relegation zone at the end of the season. Surprisingly the club were allowed to stay within the 2010 Chinese Super League after it was discovered that Chengdu Blades and Guangzhou FC were guilty of match-fixing. After gaining a reprieve from relegation the club went on a spending spree by signing several established Chinese internationals such as Du Wei, Li Yan and Wang Song. The signings seemed to work and the club's results significantly improved throughout the 2010 league campaign, which saw the club achieve their best ever finish of fourth and a chance to play within the AFC Champions League for the first time.
This club is known for its outstanding football academy and youth training facilities. However, they were relegated to the China League One after getting second-to-last place in the 2016 Chinese super League because of their bad performances for the season with only 8 wins in 30 games.
Aimed to take the crown in the football competition of 2017 National Games of China, Hangzhou Greentown adopted a risky youngster-first policy which was more radical than ever. But good wishes were all vain. In 2017, the team struggled near the relegation zone in their first season of China League One while the youngsters who formed the Team Zhejiang watched the championship slip away in the final. Young trainer Xu Lei filled in manager Hong Myung-bo's shoes and the team finally ranked 9th in the league. Meanwhile, former player and veteran Jiao Fengbo also returned as the new general manager.
On 14 January 2018, the club changed their name back to Zhejiang Greentown F.C. for the 20th anniversary of the club. The same season they reached third place in the China League One, one place away from returning to the Chinese Super League.
Name history
- 2002 Renamed Zhejiang Greentown
- 2003 Renamed Zhejiang Sanhua Greentown
- 2004 Renamed Zhejiang Greentown
- 2006 Renamed Zhejiang Babei Greentown
- 2007 Renamed Zhejiang Greentown
- 2009 Renamed Hangzhou Greentown
- 2010 Renamed Hangzhou Nabel Greentown
- 2011 Renamed Hangzhou Greentown
- 2012 Renamed Hangzhou 9Top Greentown
- 2013 Renamed Hangzhou Daikin Greentown
- 2014 Renamed Hangzhou Greentown
- 2018 Renamed Zhejiang Greentown
Current squad
First team
As of 7 March 2019Reserve squad
As of 7 March 2019Out on loan
Coaching staff
As of 14 March 2018Managerial history
- Bao Yingfu
- Gu Mingchang
- Wang Changtai '
- Goran Kalušević
- Wang Changtai '
- Bobby Houghton
- Li Bing '
- Wang Zheng
- Zhou Suian
- Sun Wei
- Zhou Suian
- Wu Jingui
- Takeshi Okada
- Yang Ji
- Philippe Troussier
- Yang Ji
- Hong Myung-bo
- Zdravko Zdravkov '
- Sergi Barjuán
- Zheng Xiong
Honours
League
- China League One: 2006
Youth Team
- Nike Cup Winners: 2008
Results
As of the end of 2018 season.
| Year | Div | Pts | Pos. | FA Cup | Super Cup | League Cup | AFC | Att./G | Stadium | |||||||
| 1999 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 15 | −3 | 11 | 5 | DNQ | DNQ | – | |||
| 2000 | 3 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 9 | 11 | 23 | 8 | DNQ | DNQ | – | |||
| 2001 | 2 | 22 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 33 | 26 | 7 | 28 | 8 | R1 | DNQ | – | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | ||
| 2002 | 2 | 22 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 29 | 33 | −4 | 29 | 7 | SF | DNQ | – | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | ||
| 2003 | 2 | 26 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 39 | 39 | 0 | 27 | 10 | R1 | DNQ | – | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | ||
| 2004 | 2 | 32 | 12 | 9 | 11 | 38 | 39 | −1 | 45 | 8 | R1 | DNQ | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | |||
| 2005 | 2 | 26 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 50 | 23 | 27 | 55 | 3 | R2 | DNQ | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | |||
| 2006 | 2 | 24 | 17 | 4 | 3 | 41 | 18 | 23 | 55 | RU | QF | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | ||||
| 2007 | 1 | 28 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 25 | 35 | −10 | 28 | 11 | 19,571 | Yellow Dragon Sports Center Meihu Sports Centre | ||||
| 2008 | 1 | 30 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 38 | 32 | 6 | 39 | 9 | 12,188 | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | ||||
| 2009 | 1 | 30 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 30 | 43 | −13 | 32 | 15 | 14,790 | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | ||||
| 2010 | 1 | 30 | 13 | 9 | 8 | 38 | 30 | 8 | 48 | 4 | 14,550 | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | ||||
| 2011 | 1 | 30 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 28 | 32 | −4 | 39 | 8 | QF | Group | 8,586 | Meihu Sports Centre Jiaxing Stadium | ||
| 2012 | 1 | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 34 | 46 | −12 | 36 | 11 | QF | DNQ | 10,563 | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | ||
| 2013 | 1 | 30 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 34 | 42 | −8 | 34 | 12 | QF | DNQ | 14,164 | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | ||
| 2014 | 1 | 30 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 43 | 60 | −17 | 32 | 12 | R4 | DNQ | 13,766 | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | ||
| 2015 | 1 | 30 | 8 | 9 | 13 | 27 | 35 | −8 | 33 | 11 | R4 | DNQ | 12,566 | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | ||
| 2016 | 1 | 30 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 28 | 37 | −9 | 32 | 15 | R4 | DNQ | 11,723 | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | ||
| 2017 | 2 | 30 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 31 | 39 | −8 | 36 | 9 | R4 | DNQ | 4,881 | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | ||
| 2018 | 2 | 30 | 14 | 9 | 7 | 53 | 38 | 15 | 51 | 3 | R3 | DNQ | 8,717 | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | ||
| 2019 | 2 | 30 | R4 | DNQ | Yellow Dragon Sports Center |
- In group stages. Buy the first team of Jilin Aodong as well as their position in second tier. Two Super League clubs were involved in match-fixing scandal and relegated to League One, so Hangzhou could stay at top level.
- Pld = Played
- W = Games won
- D = Games drawn
- L = Games lost
- F = Goals for
- A = Goals against
- Pts = Points
- Pos = Final position
- DNQ = Did not qualify
- DNE = Did not enter
- NH = Not Held
- – = Does Not Exist
- R1 = Round 1
- R2 = Round 2
- R3 = Round 3
- R4 = Round 4
- F = Final
- SF = Semi-finals
- QF = Quarter-finals
- R16 = Round of 16
- Group = Group stage
- GS2 = Second Group stage
- QR1 = First Qualifying Round
- QR2 = Second Qualifying Round
- QR3 = Third Qualifying Round
International friendlies
- On 26 July 2009, Manchester United visited the Dragon Stadium and played a friendly against Hangzhou Greentown as part of their pre-season Asian tour. Manchester United won by 8 goals to 2.
- On 16 July 2011, Arsenal visited the Meihu Stadium and played a friendly against Hangzhou Greentown as part of their pre-season Asian tour. The game was drawn 1–1.
- Zhejiang Greentown also played two friendly games at the Mini Estadi in 2017 and 2019, against FC Barcelona B with the Spanish side won 1-0 and 3-1 respectively.
International results
| # | Season | Competition | Date | Round | Opponent | H / A | Stadium | Result |
| 1 | 2011 | AFC Champions League | 2011-03-01 | Group stage |  Nagoya Grampus | H | Zheijiang Dragon Stadium | |
| 2 | 2011 | AFC Champions League | 2011-03-15 | Group stage |  FC Seoul | A | Seoul World Cup Stadium | |
| 3 | 2011 | AFC Champions League | 2011-04-06 | Group stage |  Al Ain | H | Zheijiang Dragon Stadium | |
| 4 | 2011 | AFC Champions League | 2011-04-19 | Group stage | Al Ain | A | Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium | |
| 5 | 2011 | AFC Champions League | 2011-05-04 | Group stage | Nagoya Grampus | A | Mizuho Athletic Stadium | |
| 6 | 2011 | AFC Champions League | 2011-05-11 | Group stage | FC Seoul | H | Zheijiang Dragon Stadium |