Zhejiang Greentown F.C.

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.[1] 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.[2] 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.[3] 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%.[1]

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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]

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.[8]

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.[9] The same season they reached third place in the China League One, one place away from returning to the Chinese Super League.

• 2002 Renamed Zhejiang Greentown (浙江绿城)
• 2003 Renamed Zhejiang Sanhua Greentown (浙江三花绿城)
• 2004 Renamed Zhejiang Greentown (浙江绿城)
• 2006 Renamed Zhejiang Babei Greentown (浙江巴贝绿城房产)
• 2007 Renamed Zhejiang Greentown (浙江绿城房产)
• 2009 Renamed Hangzhou Greentown (杭州绿城)
• 2010 Renamed Hangzhou Nabel Greentown (杭州诺贝尔绿城)
• 2011 Renamed Hangzhou Greentown (杭州绿城)
• 2012 Renamed Hangzhou 9Top Greentown (杭州九好绿城)
• 2013 Renamed Hangzhou Daikin Greentown (杭州大金绿城)
• 2014 Renamed Hangzhou Greentown (杭州绿城)
• 2018 Renamed Zhejiang Greentown (浙江绿城)

As of 14 March 2018[11]

Position	Staff
Team leader	Rong Yu
Head coach	Zheng Xiong
Assistant coach	Ramón de Quintana Wu Wei
Goalkeeping coach	Zdravko Zdravkov
Technical analyst	Vicente Fuensalida Gao Rongxin
Fitness coach	Jaume Moll
U-19 team coach	Fujio Yamamoto
U-19 team assistant coach	Kosuke Yatsuda
U-17 team coach	Yasuharu Kurata
U-14 team coach	Masahiro Kobe
U-11 team coach	Taichi Obata
Translator	Yue Zhang Lin Zihe Miao Lixiang
Team doctor	Weng Hui Zhang Chengxi Chen Weiwei

All-time League rankings

As of the end of 2018 season.[15][16]

• ^1 In group stages. ^2 Buy the first team of Jilin Aodong as well as their position in second tier. ^3 Two Super League clubs were involved in match-fixing scandal and relegated to League One, so Hangzhou could stay at top level.

Key

China top division   China second division   China third division W   Winners RU   Runners-up 3   Third place   Relegated

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.[18] 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.[19] 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	2–0
2	2011	AFC Champions League	2011-03-15	Group stage	FC Seoul	A	Seoul World Cup Stadium	0–3
3	2011	AFC Champions League	2011-04-06	Group stage	Al Ain	H	Zheijiang Dragon Stadium	0–0
4	2011	AFC Champions League	2011-04-19	Group stage	Al Ain	A	Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium	0–1
5	2011	AFC Champions League	2011-05-04	Group stage	Nagoya Grampus	A	Mizuho Athletic Stadium	0–1
6	2011	AFC Champions League	2011-05-11	Group stage	FC Seoul	H	Zheijiang Dragon Stadium	1–1

See also

• Yanbian FC
• Hangzhou Sanchao
• Great Wall Cup – China's largest international youth football tournament

References

1. "绿城介绍". GreenTown Football Club Inc. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
2. "China League Tables 2000". rsssf.com. 19 Jun 2003. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
3. "China League Tables 2001". rsssf.com. 19 Jun 2003. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
4. "China League Tables 2006". rsssf.com. 8 Mar 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
5. "天上掉馅饼重庆力帆偷着乐 狂喜之外更感到自身差距". sports.sina.com.cn. 24 Feb 2010. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
6. "陕西队长李彦加盟杭州 五大国字号有望齐聚绿城". sports.sohu.com. 11 Feb 2010. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
7. "China League Tables 2010". rsssf.com. 10 Dec 2010. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
8. "中超赛季回顾之杭州绿城——降级中寻弊端". sports.sohu.com/20161126/n474236173.shtml. Retrieved 30 Nov 2016.
9. "里程碑!绿城迎20周年庆典 正式更名为浙江绿城". Sina. 2018-01-14. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
10. "2019中甲联赛16队大名单". Sohu.com (in Chinese). 2019-03-07. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
12. "Hangzhou Greentown " Manager history". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 2015-05-02.
13. "Hangzhou Greentown". footballzz.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-05-02.
14. "CHINA LEAGUE ONE – 2006". uk.soccerway.com. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
15. "China League History". rsssf.com. 22 Oct 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
16. "杭州绿城". sodasoccer.com. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
17. 2000年中乙联赛决赛阶段比赛名次 fa.org.cn 2013-04-30 Retrieved 2016-12-20
18. "China friendly announced". Manutd.com. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
19. "Arsenal announces pre-season game in China". Arsenal.com. 25 May 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2012.

External links

• Club website