Zhejiang Energy Greentown F.C.

Zhejiang Energy Greentown Football Club (simplified Chinese: 浙江能源绿城; traditional Chinese: 浙江能源綠城; pinyin: Zhèjiāng Néngyuán Lǜchéng) is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the China League One division (second division) under license from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). 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 investors are the Zhejiang-based Greentown China Holdings Limited company and Zhejiang Energy Group. Greentown became the first sports club from Hangzhou with 1 million followers on Weibo.

Zhejiang Greentown
Zhèjiāng Lǜchéng
浙江绿城

Full name	Zhejiang Greentown FC 浙江绿城足球俱乐部
Nickname(s)	Greentown 绿城 Green Giants 绿巨人 Team Zhejiang 浙江队
Founded	14 January 1998
Ground	Hangzhou Huanglong Stadium, Hangzhou
Capacity	52,672
Owner	Zhang Weidong
Manager	Jordi Vinyals
League	China League One
2020	League One, 2nd of 18 (Lost at Promotion-Relegation play-off)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

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.[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.

In September 2020, the team changed their name to Zhejiang Energy Greentown F.C., as Zhejiang Energy Group stepped in as one of the major share holders, while Song Weiping officially quit the club.[10]

Name history

• 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)
• 2020 Renamed Zhejiang Energy Greentown (浙江能源绿城)

Current squad

First team

As of 7 January 2021

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  CHN Fan Jinming 2 MF  CHN Wang Guanyi 3 DF  CHN Wang Yang 4 DF  CHN Sun Zheng'ao 5 DF  CHN Long Cheng 6 DF  CHN Long Wei 8 MF  CHN Zhong Haoran 9 FW  RSA Dino Ndlovu 10 MF  CHN Gu Bin 11 MF  CHN Huang Shibo 12 GK  CHN Lai Jinfeng 17 MF  CHN Li Wei 18 FW  CHN Tan Yang 19 FW  CHN Dong Yu

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF  CHN Wang Dongsheng 21 MF  CHN Cui Ren 22 MF  CHN Cheng Jin 23 DF  CHN Xu Xiaolong 24 DF  CHN Jin Haoxiang 26 MF  CHN Sun Haosheng 27 MF  CHN Xu Yike 28 DF  CHN Yue Xin 29 MF  CHN Wei Jingzong 30 FW  ZIM Nyasha Mushekwi 33 GK  CHN Zhao Bo 39 DF  CHN Xu Jizu – DF  HKG Leung Nok Hang

Reserve squad

As of 7 March 2019

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 FW  CHN He Jian 32 FW  CHN Wu Haoyi 41 FW  CHN Shao Renzhe 42 GK  CHN Kou Jiahao 43 FW  CHN Ying Yuxiao 45 MF  CHN Shi Pengqing - DF  CHN Chen Zhenyu - MF  CHN Dai Lijie - MF  CHN Wang Yuchen - MF  CHN Li Chen - FW  CHN Wu Yuhang - FW  CHN Yin Jie - GK  CHN Bie Qixiu - DF  CHN Lu Hao

No. Pos. Nation Player - DF  CHN Liang Qingjie - MF  CHN Huang Jingfeng - MF  CHN Fang Renwei - DF  CHN Hu Xianbing - DF  CHN Han Lieguang - MF  CHN Fan Baiqun - MF  CHN Feng Qiaofeng - MF  CHN Zhu Haiwei - DF  CHN Wang Hongyou - MF  CHN Zou Yucheng - MF  CHN Zhang Yue - DF  CHN Ye Churu - MF  CHN Guo Yongchu - MF  CHN Peng Zhengzheng

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player

No. Pos. Nation Player

Notable players

Africa

Ivory Coast

• Davy Angan

South Africa

• Dino Ndlovu

Tunisia

• Imed Louati

Zimbabwe

• Nyasha Mushekwi

Asia

Australia

• Tim Cahill
• Matthew Spiranovic

Lebanon

• Roda Antar

Europe

Croatia

• Sammir

South America

Brazil

• Rafael Martins
• Argel Fucks
• Fabrício

Coaching staff

As of 14 March 2018[11]

Position	Staff
Team leader	Rong Yu
Head coach	Jordi Vinyals
Assistant coach
Goalkeeping coach
Technical analyst	Vicente Fuensalida Gao Rongxin
Fitness coach
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

Source:

Managerial history

As of End of 2020 Chinese league season[12][13]

Bao Yingfu (1999–00) Gu Mingchang (2001) Wang Changtai (2001) (caretaker) Goran Kalušević (2001) Wang Changtai (2001) (caretaker) Bobby Houghton (2002–03) Li Bing (2003–04) (caretaker) Wang Zheng (2004–07) Zhou Suian (May 15, 2007–07) Sun Wei (2008) Zhou Suian (2008 – Sept 20, 2009)

Wu Jingui (Sept 20, 2009 – Dec 31, 2011) Takeshi Okada (Dec 15, 2011 – Nov 5, 2013) Yang Ji (Nov 5, 2013 – Dec 2, 2014) Philippe Troussier (Dec 2, 2014 – Jul 1, 2015) Yang Ji (Jul 1, 2015 – Dec 17, 2015) Hong Myung-bo (Dec 17, 2015 – May 25, 2017) Zdravko Zdravkov (caretaker)(May 25, 2017 –26 Nov, 2017) Sergi Barjuán (26 Nov, 2017 –3 July 2019) Zheng Xiong (3 July 2019–31 Dec 2020) Jordi Vinyals (1 Jan, 2021–)

Honours

League

• China League One
  • Runners-up: 2006,[14] 2020

Minor / Reserve

• Reserve League of China League One
  • Runners-up: 2017

Results

All-time League rankings

As of the end of 2020 season.[15][16]

Year	Div	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Pos.	FA Cup	Super Cup	League Cup	AFC	Att./G	Stadium	Top league scorer(s)	Scores
1999	3	10	3	2	5	12	15	−3	11	5^1	DNQ	DNQ	–	DNQ		Zhejiang Stadium	Yao Changming Qin Peng	3
2000	3	10	7	2	1	20	4	16	23	1^2	DNQ	DNQ	–	DNQ		Zhejiang Stadium	Yao Changming	12
		6	2	1	3	11	13	−2	7	4^3
		2	0	0	2	0	5	−5	lost	Final 8^4[17]						tournament
2001	2^5	22	6	10	6	33	26	7	28	8	R1	DNQ	–	DNQ	24,182	Yellow Dragon Sports Center	Adolfo Valencia	12
2002	2	22	8	5	9	29	33	−4	29	7	SF	DNQ	–	DNQ	16,364	Yellow Dragon Sports Center	Bertin Tomou	7
2003	2	26	6	9	11	39	39	0	27	10	R1	DNQ	–	DNQ	11,615	Yellow Dragon Sports Center	Adolfo Valencia	14
2004	2	32	12	9	11	38	39	−1	45	8	R1	NH	DNQ	DNQ	3,625	Yellow Dragon Sports Center	Shen Liuxi	10
2005	2	26	17	4	5	50	23	27	55	3	R2	NH	DNQ	DNQ	14,917	Yellow Dragon Sports Center	Bertin Tomou	11
2006	2	24	17	4	3	41	18	23	55	RU	QF	NH	NH	DNQ	25,500	Yellow Dragon Sports Center	Alex Chandre de Oliveira	15
2007	1	28	6	10	12	25	35	−10	28	11	NH	NH	NH	DNQ	19,571	Yellow Dragon Sports Center Meihu Sports Centre	Alex Chandre de Oliveira	5
2008	1	30	9	12	9	38	32	6	39	9	NH	NH	NH	DNQ	12,188	Yellow Dragon Sports Center	Erivaldo Antonio Saraiva	10
2009	1	30	8	8	14	30	43	−13	32	15^6	NH	NH	NH	DNQ	14,790	Yellow Dragon Sports Center	Erivaldo Antonio Saraiva	13
2010	1	30	13	9	8	38	30	8	48	4	NH	NH	NH	DNQ	14,550	Yellow Dragon Sports Center	Luis Alfredo Ramírez	14
2011	1	30	10	9	11	28	32	−4	39	8	QF	NH	NH	ACL Group	8,586	Meihu Sports Centre Jiaxing Stadium	Luis Alfredo Ramírez	7
2012	1	30	9	9	12	34	46	−12	36	11	QF	DNQ	NH	DNQ	10,563	Yellow Dragon Sports Center	Wang Song Renatinho	8
2013	1	30	8	10	12	34	42	−8	34	12	QF	DNQ	NH	DNQ	14,164	Yellow Dragon Sports Center	Davy Claude Angan	9
2014	1	30	8	8	14	43	60	−17	32	12	R4	DNQ	NH	DNQ	13,766	Yellow Dragon Sports Center	Anselmo Ramon	16
2015	1	30	8	9	13	27	35	−8	33	11	R4	DNQ	NH	DNQ	12,566	Yellow Dragon Sports Center	Anselmo Ramon	12
2016	1	30	8	8	14	28	37	−9	32	15	R4	DNQ	NH	DNQ	11,723	Yellow Dragon Sports Center	Anselmo Ramon	7
2017	2	30	8	12	10	31	39	−8	36	9	R4	DNQ	NH	DNQ	4,881	Yellow Dragon Sports Center	Anselmo Ramon	6
2018	2	30	14	9	7	53	38	15	51	3	R3	DNQ	NH	DNQ	8,717	Yellow Dragon Sports Center	Dino Ndlovu	19
2019	2	30	14	9	7	49	40	9	51	6	R4	DNQ	NH	DNQ	8,678	Yellow Dragon Sports Center	Dino Ndlovu	17
2020	2	10	5	4	1	19	8	11	19	2^7	R2	DNQ	NH	DNQ	—	tournament	Nyasha Mushekwi	7
		5	3	1	1	8	5	3	10	RU^8
2021	2											DNQ	NH	DNQ	—	tournament

^1 In Group B, which is the first stage.

^2 In Group C - Center and west region, which is the first stage.

^3 In Group C - South region, which is the second stage.

^4 In first round of Finals.

^5 Bought the first team of Jilin Aodong as well as their position in second tier.

^6 Two Super League clubs were involved in match-fixing scandal and relegated to League One, so Hangzhou could stay at top level.

^7 In Group B, which is the first stage.

^8 In Group D, which is the second and final stage.

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. "浙江绿城更名浙江能源绿城 宋卫平彻底放弃股权". sina.com.cn. 9 September 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
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