Zhejiang Professional F.C.

Zhejiang Professional Football Club (Chinese: 浙江职业足球俱乐部; pinyin: Zhèjiāng Zhíyè Zúqiú Jùlèbù), commonly referred to as Zhejiang FC or simply Zhejiang, is a Chinese professional football club based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, that competes in the Chinese Super League, the top tier of Chinese football. Traditionally, Zhejiang had played its home matches at the Yellow Dragon Sports Center, located within Xihu District, but currently plays its home matches at the Huzhou Olympic Sports Center in Huzhou, Zhejiang. The club's main investors are the Zhejiang-based Greentown China Holdings Limited company and the Zhejiang Energy Group.

Zhejiang F.C.
浙江 F.C.
Full nameZhejiang Professional Football Club
浙江职业足球俱乐部
Nickname(s)Green Giants (绿巨人)
Founded1998 (1998) (as Zhejiang Green Town)
GroundYellow Dragon Sports Center, Hangzhou
Capacity51,971
OwnerGreentown China (50%)
Zhejiang Energy Group (50%)
ChairmanZhang Weidong
ManagerJordi Vinyals
LeagueChinese Super League
2022Super League, 3rd of 18
WebsiteClub website

The club was founded on January 14, 1998 as Zhejiang Green Town F.C., making 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 playing right for Chinese Football Association Jia League as well as 32 players from first team of Jilin Aodong 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 third in the 2022 Chinese Super League season.

History

Zhejiang Green Town 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 playing right for Chinese Football Association Jia League as well as 32 players from first team of Yanbian F.C.(Then Jilin Aodong) 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]

As Hangzhou Greentown

In 2009, The club renamed itself to Hangzhou Greentown Football Club.

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 CFA Super League after it was discovered that Chengdu Blades and Guangzhou GPC were guilty of match-fixing.[5]

AFC Champions League debut

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 2011 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 2017 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 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.

As Zhejiang Greentown

On 14 January 2018, the club changed their name 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 place away from returning to the CFA Super League.

As Zhejiang Energy Greentown

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]

As Zhejiang Professional

On 26 February 2021, According to the requirements of non-corporate change of club name by the Chinese Football Association, after several rounds of discussion and reported to the relevant provincial departments and the Chinese Football Association for review and approval, the club's name changed to Zhejiang Professional Football Club.[11]

Return to the AFC Champions League

Zhejiang finished third in the 2022 Chinese Super League season which is their highest position they have ever finished in the top tier of the Chinese league saw them qualified for the 2023–24 AFC Champions League group stage after 12 years.

Name history
Period Club Name First Team Name
1998–2001 Zhejiang Green Town FC 浙江绿城 Zhejiang Green Town 浙江绿城
2001–04 Zhejiang Sanhua Green Town (Sponsor Name) 浙江三花绿城
2004–09 Zhejiang Babei Green Town (Sponsor Name) 浙江巴贝绿城
2009–10 Hangzhou Greentown FC 杭州绿城 Hangzhou Greentown 杭州绿城
2010–12 Hangzhou Nabel Greentown (Sponsor Name) 杭州诺贝尔绿城
2012–13 Hangzhou 9Top Greentown (Sponsor Name) 杭州九好绿城
2013–14 Hangzhou Daikin Greentown (Sponsor Name) 杭州大金绿城
2014–18 Hangzhou Greentown 杭州绿城
2018–20 Zhejiang Greentown FC 浙江绿城 Zhejiang Greentown 浙江绿城
2020–21 Zhejiang Energy Greentown FC 浙江能源绿城 Zhejiang Energy Greentown 浙江能源绿城
2021– Zhejiang Professional FC 浙江职业 Zhejiang 浙江

Crest history
  • Zhejiang Green Town logo used between 1998 and 2000
    Zhejiang Green Town logo used between 1998 and 2000
  • Zhejiang Green Town logo used between 2001 and 2002
    Zhejiang Green Town logo used between 2001 and 2002
  • Hangzhou Greentown logo used between 2003 and 2018
    Hangzhou Greentown logo used between 2003 and 2018
  • Zhejiang Greentown logo used between 2019 and 2021
    Zhejiang Greentown logo used between 2019 and 2021
  • Zhejiang Professional logo used in 2022
    Zhejiang Professional logo used in 2022

Current squad

First team
As of 14 April 2023[12]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
2 DF Hong Kong HKG Leung Nok Hang
3 DF China CHN Wang Yang
4 DF China CHN Sun Zheng'ao
5 DF China CHN Liu Haofan
6 MF China CHN Yao Junsheng
8 MF China CHN Qian Jiegei
9 FW China CHN Gao Di
10 MF China CHN Li Tixiang
11 MF Croatia CRO Franko Andrijašević (captain)
12 GK China CHN Lai Jinfeng
13 FW China CHN Li Yalun
15 DF China CHN Jin Haoxiang
16 MF China CHN Bao Shengxin
17 FW Ivory Coast CIV Jean Evrard Kouassi
18 MF China CHN Ablikim Abdusalam
19 FW China CHN Dong Yu
20 MF China CHN Wang Dongsheng
No. Pos. Nation Player
21 FW China CHN Ji Shengpan
22 MF China CHN Cheng Jin
23 MF China CHN Wu Yuhang
24 DF China CHN Ye Daoxin
25 MF China CHN Xu Junchi
26 MF China CHN Yin Jie
27 MF China CHN Zheng Xuejian
28 DF China CHN Yue Xin
29 MF China CHN Zhang Jiaqi
30 FW Zimbabwe ZIM Nyasha Mushekwi
31 MF China CHN Gu Bin
32 GK China CHN Xu Zhenyao
33 GK China CHN Zhao Bo
35 MF China CHN Ma Haoqi
36 DF Brazil BRA Lucas
37 MF China CHN Ning Fangze
45 FW Brazil BRA Leonardo (on loan from Shandong Taishan)

Reserve team
As of 26 August 2022.

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
- DF China CHN Long Cheng
- GK China CHN Bie Qixiu
- DF China CHN Chen Zhenyu
No. Pos. Nation Player
- DF China CHN Hu Xianbing
- DF China CHN Lu Hao

Out on loan
As of 17 May 2022.

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
- GK China CHN Fan Jinming (at China Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard until 31 December 2022)
- MF China CHN Xu Yike (at China Jinan Xingzhou until 31 December 2022)
- DF China CHN Xu Jizu (at China Jinan Xingzhou until 31 December 2022)
No. Pos. Nation Player
- DF China CHN Jin Haoxiang (at China Hainan Star until 31 December 2022)
- MF China CHN Eysajan Kurban (at China Heilongjiang Ice City until 31 December 2023)
- FW Cameroon CMR Donovan Ewolo (at China Guangxi Pingguo Haliao until 31 December 2023)

Notable players

Coaching staff

As of 18 May 2022

Position Staff
Manager Spain Jordi Vinyals
Team leader China Li Lei
Press officer China Yang Zheng
Assistant manager Spain Javier Almarza
First-team coach China Tan Yang
China Shen Kui
Goalkeeping coach Spain Salvador Miracle
Fitness coach Spain Adolfo Abad
Technical analyst China Wang Dongliang
Team doctor Spain Daniel Saez Irurre
China Weng Hui
Epidemic prevention officer China Zhang Chenxi
Translator China Chen Shuo
China Tang Mingming
China Qu Juncheng
Team service China Wang Jian
China Li Zheng
China Zheng Yixin

Source:

Managerial history
As of Beginning of 2022 Chinese league season[13][14]
  • China Bao Yingfu (22 Jan 1999 – Dec 1999) (general coach)
  • China Zhu Haibo (May 1999 – Dec 1999)
  • China Wu Tingrui (Dec 1999 – Jul 2000)
  • China Zhang Jingtian (18 Jan 2000 – 2000) (general coach)
  • China Zhou Chenggui (Jul 2000 – Oct 2000)
  • China Gu Mingchang (23 Dec 2001 – 7 Jul 2001)
  • China Wang Changtai (8 Jul 2001 – 21 Jul 2001) (caretaker)
  • Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Goran Kalušević (24 Jul 2001 – 28 Aug 2001)
  • China Wang Changtai (28 Aug 2001 – 6 Oct 2001) (caretaker)
  • England Bobby Houghton (Jan 2002 – 21 Jul 2003)
  • China Li Bing (21 Jul 2003 – Dec 2003)
  • China Wang Zheng (Dec 2003 – 15 May 2007)
  • China Zhou Suian (15 May 2007 – Dec 2007)
  • China Sun Wei (Dec 2007 – 21 Apr 2008)
  • China Zhou Suian (21 Apr 2008 – 21 Sept 2009)
  • China Wu Jingui (21Sept 2009 – Nov 2011)
  • Team Committee (16 Oct 2011 – Nov 2011)
  • Japan Takeshi Okada (15 Dec 2011 – 5 Nov 2013)
  • China Yang Ji (6 Nov 2013 – 4 Nov 2014)
  • France Philippe Troussier (2 Dec 2014 – 1 Jul 2015)
  • China Yang Ji (1 Jul 2015 – Nov 2015)
  • South Korea Hong Myung-bo (17 Dec 2015 – 25 May 2017)
  • Bulgaria Zdravko Zdravkov (25 May 25, 2017 – Nov 2017) (caretaker)
  • Spain Sergi Barjuán (26 Nov 2017 – 3 July 2019)
  • China Zheng Xiong (3 July 2019 – 31 Dec 2020)
  • Spain Jordi Vinyals (1 Jan 2021 – )

Grounds
Ground Location Total CSL Jia B / CL1 Yi Cup
Zhejiang Stadium Hangzhou 13 0 0 13 0
Yellow Dragon Sports Center Hangzhou 254 122 115 0 17
Meihu Sports Centre Jinhua 17 16 0 0 1
Jiaxing Stadium Jiaxing 9 7 0 0 2
Jinhua Sports Center Jinhua 7 3 4 0 0
Zhoushan Sports Center Zhoushan 2 0 1 0 1
Huzhou Olympic Sports Center Huzhou 1 1 0 0 0

Records

Honours

League

Cup

Minor / Reserve / Youth

Results

All-time League rankings

As of the start of 2022 season.[16][17]

Season Division Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Pos. FA Cup Other Att./G Stadium Top league scorer(s) Scores
1998 did not enter league system DNQ - - - - -
1999 Yi 1st Stage

Group B

 10 3 2 5 12 15 −3 11 5 Final 17 DNQ - Unknown Zhejiang Stadium Yao Changming

Qin Peng

 3
2000 Yi 1st Stage

Group C

 10 7 2 1 20 4 16 23 1 Final 8[18] DNQ - Unknown Zhejiang Stadium Yao Changming 12
2nd Stage

South Region

 6 2 1 3 11 13 −2 7 4
3nd Stage

1st Round

 2 0 0 2 0 5 −5 lost - - tournament (Wuhan)
2001 Jia B1 22 6 10 6 33 26 7 28 8 R1 - 24,182 Yellow Dragon Sports Center Adolfo Valencia 12
2002 Jia B 22 8 5 9 29 33 −4 29 7 SF - 16,364 Yellow Dragon Sports Center

Meihu Sports Centre

 Bertin Tomou 7
2003 Jia B 26 6 9 11 39 39 0 27 10 R1 - 11,615 Yellow Dragon Sports Center Adolfo Valencia 14
2004 CL 32 12 9 11 38 39 −1 45 8 R1 - 3,625 Yellow Dragon Sports Center Shen Liuxi 10
2005 CL 26 17 4 5 50 23 27 55 3 R2 - 14,917 Yellow Dragon Sports Center Bertin Tomou 11
2006 CL 24 17 4 3 41 18 23 55 RU SF - 25,500 Yellow Dragon Sports Center Alex Chandre de Oliveira 15
2007 CSL 28 6 10 12 25 35 −10 28 11 NH - 19,571 Yellow Dragon Sports Center

Meihu Sports Centre

 Alex Chandre de Oliveira 5
2008 CSL 30 9 12 9 38 32 6 39 9 NH - 12,188 Yellow Dragon Sports Center Erivaldo Antonio Saraiva 10
2009 CSL 30 8 8 14 30 43 −13 32 152 NH - 14,790 Yellow Dragon Sports Center Erivaldo Antonio Saraiva 13
2010 CSL 30 13 9 8 38 30 8 48 4 NH - 14,550 Yellow Dragon Sports Center

Meihu Sports Centre

 Luis Alfredo Ramírez 14
2011 CSL 30 10 9 11 28 32 −4 39 8 QF ACL Group 8,586 Meihu Sports Centre

Jiaxing Stadium

 Luis Alfredo Ramírez 7
2012 CSL 30 9 9 12 34 46 −12 36 11 QF - 10,563 Yellow Dragon Sports Center Wang Song

Renatinho

 8
2013 CSL 30 8 10 12 34 42 −8 34 12 QF - 14,164 Yellow Dragon Sports Center Davy Claude Angan 9
2014 CSL 30 8 8 14 43 60 −17 32 12 R4 - 13,766 Yellow Dragon Sports Center Anselmo Ramon 16
2015 CSL 30 8 9 13 27 35 −8 33 11 R4 - 12,566 Yellow Dragon Sports Center Anselmo Ramon 12
2016 CSL 30 8 8 14 28 37 −9 32 15 R4 - 11,723 Yellow Dragon Sports Center

Jinhua Sports Center

 Anselmo Ramon 7
2017 CL 30 8 12 10 31 39 −8 36 9 R4 - 4,881 Yellow Dragon Sports Center

Jinhua Sports Center

Zhoushan Sports Center

 Anselmo Ramon 6
2018 CL 30 14 9 7 53 38 15 51 3 R3 - 8,717 Yellow Dragon Sports Center

Zhoushan Sports Center

 Dino Ndlovu 19
2019 CL 30 14 9 7 49 40 9 51 6 R4 - 8,678 Yellow Dragon Sports Center Dino Ndlovu 17
2020 CL 1st Stage

Group B

 10 5 4 1 19 8 11 19 2 RU3 R2 - - tournament (Meizhou) Nyasha Mushekwi 7
2nd Stage

Group D

 5 3 1 1 8 5 3 10 2 tournament (Chengdu)
2021 CL 34 22 8 4 69 28 41 74 34 R4 - - tournament (Meizhou) Nyasha Mushekwi 23
2022 CSL 34 18 11 5 64 28 36 65 3 F - 3,500 Huzhou Olympic Sports Center

tournament (Haikou, Round 1-10)

 Nyasha Mushekwi 18

^1 Bought the first team of Jilin Aodong as well as their position in second tier.

^2 Two CSL clubs were involved in match-fixing scandal and relegated to China League, so Hangzhou Greentown could stay at top level.

^3 Failed to achieve promotion in the play-off.

^4 Promotion was achieved via the play-off.

Key

Feeder teams
  • Hangzhou Luyuan (1999–2003) [Youth team of Zhejiang Green Town FC]
    • 2000, 2001 Chinese Yi League
  • Ningbo Huaao (2006) [Youth team of Zhejiang Green Town FC]
    • 2006 China D2 League
  • Wenzhou Provenza (2011) [U19 team of Hangzhou Greentown FC]
    • 2011 China D2 League

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.[19] 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.[20] 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.

Continental results
Season Competition Round Opposition Home Away Rank
/Agg.
2011 AFC Champions League Group stage Japan Nagoya Grampus
2–0
0–1
4th
South Korea FC Seoul
1–1
0–3
United Arab Emirates Al-Ain
0–0
0–1
2023–24 AFC Champions League Play-off round Thailand Port
1–0
 — —
Group stage Thailand Buriram United
–
1–4
Australia Melbourne City
–
–
Japan Ventforet Kofu
–
–

Kit history
Season Kit manufacturer Colour (H) Sponsor (H) Colour (A) Sponsor (A)
1998 - - - - - - -
1999 Adidas Blue Green Town 绿城 Red Green Town 绿城
2000
2001 Ucan White Green Town (Round 1) 绿城（第1轮） Blue / Red Green Town (Round 1) 绿城（第1轮）
Sanhua (from Round 2) 浙江三花（第2-4轮） Sanhua (from Round 2) 浙江三花（第2-4轮）
三花（第5-22轮） 三花（第5-22轮）
2002 Blue Sanhua 三花 White / Green Sanhua 三花
2003 Green White
2004 White Babei 巴贝 Green / Yellow / Red Babei 巴贝
2005 Umbro Green / Yellow / Blue / Red
2006 Kika Red
2007 Asics Black
2008 Kappa Green
2009 Nike Green CIMIC (from Round 10) 斯米克 Black CIMIC (from Round 10) 斯米克
2010 Green & White Nabel 诺贝尔瓷砖 White Nabel 诺贝尔瓷砖
2011 Green
2012 Daikin 大金空调 Daikin 大金空调
2013 500.com 500.com 500.com 500.com
2014 Toshiba Toshiba（第1-6轮） Toshiba Toshiba（第1-6轮）
Toshiba 东芝空调（第7-30轮） Toshiba 东芝空调（第7-30轮）
2015 Toshiba 东芝空调 Toshiba 东芝空调
2016
2017 Panasonic Panasonic 松下洁乐 Panasonic Panasonic 松下洁乐
2018 Anta Panasonic 松下洗碗机
2019 Panasonic 松下卫浴 Panasonic 松下卫浴
2020 Kelme Panasonic 松下电器 Panasonic 松下电器
2021
2022 Nike
2023

Rivals

Because there are not many football clubs based on Zhejiang in history, Zhejiang FC has rarely been able to have a rival in the province for a long time. In 2017, after being relegated to China League, Hangzhou Greentown briefly had a 2-seasons Zhejiang derby with Zhejiang Yiteng but only won 1 out of 4 matches. More often than not, Zhejiang FC has a stronger rivalry with other teams of the same level in the Wu Chinese region, such as Shanghai Zhongyuan and Shanghai Shenhua.

References
  1. "绿城介绍". GreenTown Football Club Inc. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  2. "China League Tables 2000". RSSSF. 19 Jun 2003. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  3. "China League Tables 2001". RSSSF. 19 Jun 2003. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  4. "China League Tables 2006". RSSSF. 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. 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.
  11. "公告 | 浙江能源绿城足球俱乐部正式更名为浙江职业足球俱乐部".
  12. "2023赛季浙江队大名单". 懂球帝. 14 April 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  13. "Hangzhou Greentown " Manager history". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 2015-05-02.
  14. "Hangzhou Greentown". footballzz.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-05-02.
  15. "CHINA LEAGUE ONE – 2006". uk.soccerway.com. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  16. "China League History". RSSSF. 22 Oct 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  17. "杭州绿城". sodasoccer.com. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  18. 2000年中乙联赛决赛阶段比赛名次 fa.org.cn 2013-04-30 Retrieved 2016-12-20
  19. "China friendly announced". Manutd.com. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  20. "Arsenal announces pre-season game in China". Arsenal.com. 25 May 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
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