The Magic Touch: The Success of Guangzhou Evergrande (Part I)

Guangzhou celebrating their Champions League Title

This is Part I of a two-part post on Chinese soccer club Guangzhou Evergrande.  To read Part II, click here.

On the night of November 9th , Guangzhou Evergrande of China won the AFC(Asian Football Confederation) Champions League by beating Seoul FC from Korea. This was the first time a Chinese soccer club won the continental tournament. My grandfather, a long-time soccer fan, described the moment as one of the greatest of his entire life.
Guangzhou Evergrande was originally founded in 1954. In 2010, after the Evergrande Real Estate Group purchased the club, this team won the championship of China's second division and was promoted to the Chinese Super League. A year later, the club claimed the league title in its first season in top flight (the same feat German club FC Kaiserslautern performed in 1998). Then during the next two years, the club furthered its success and the Guangzhou Evergrande era began.

Evergrande Real Estate Group deserves much of the credit for these achievements. Their transactions include signing  Dario Conca, MVP of the Brazilian Soccer League and Brazil national team player Elkeson, along with renowned manager Marcello Lippi. All told, Evergrande has spent more than three billion yuan (nearly $500 MM) during the past several years.

Magic with star player Dario Conca

The success of Guangzhou Evergrande is one example of a big-spending teams winning titles around the world. Ever since Russian magnate Roman Abramovich entered Stanford Bridge (home ground of English club Chelsea), operational patterns of professional soccer clubs have been changed. By pumping significant funds into the team and recruiting top-notch players and coaches, clubs can obtain excellent results almost immediately.

Russian Magnate and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich 

Currently, Chelsea FC, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain lead this contingent of clubs built on wealth rather than proper management. The soccer world order was upset by new money and rule changes, leaving many traditional powers fragile. The most significant changes occurred as a result of the Bosman Ruling. The Bosman Ruling banned domestic league limits on the amount  foreign players a club could employ (as long as they were citizens of a European Union member nation). This opened up a rash of transfer spending and opened the door for big-pocket owners to flood the world's soccer scene.

This is Part I of a two-part post on Chinese soccer club Guangzhou Evergrande.  To read Part II, click here.