Retro Guangzhou Evergrande Shirt – Kings of Asian Football

Guangzhou Football Club traces its roots back to 1954, making it one of the older professional football institutions in China. For decades the club lived a modest existence, occasionally competitive in domestic football but never truly dominant. That all changed in 2010 when Evergrande Real Estate Group, one of China's most powerful property conglomerates, purchased the club and embarked on an unprecedented spending spree that would transform Chinese football forever.

The Evergrande era ignited immediately. In 2011, under the guidance of former South Korean international manager Li Zhang, the club stormed to their first Chinese Super League title. But the ambitions were far larger. The arrival of Italian World Cup-winning manager Marcello Lippi in 2012 signalled that Guangzhou meant serious business. Lippi, who had guided Italy to the 2006 World Cup, brought tactical discipline, European know-how, and an aura of credibility that money alone could never buy.

The CSL titles kept coming – 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 – eight in a row, a dynasty that left rivals breathless and helpless. But it was on the continental stage where Guangzhou truly etched their name into history. In 2013, they became the first Chinese club to win the AFC Champions League, defeating South Korea's Seongnam FC in the final. The achievement was celebrated across China as a landmark moment for the country's football development.

Two years later in 2015, they did it again. This time Lippi was back in the dugout, and Guangzhou defeated South Korea's Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the final to claim their second Asian crown. It remains one of the most remarkable back-to-back continental achievements in Asian club football history.

Alibaba Group joined Evergrande as co-owners in 2014, bringing further financial muscle and tech-industry glamour to the project. The club even announced plans for a stunning new 100,000-seat stadium designed to become the world's largest football ground.

Then came the collapse. When Evergrande Real Estate spiralled into one of the largest corporate debt crises in modern Chinese history, the football club was dragged down with it. Players went unpaid, staff departed, and the team that had once boasted elite South American imports found itself struggling to field a competitive squad. Relegation from the Chinese Super League followed in 2023 – a devastating fall for a club that had stood on top of Asia just eight years earlier.

The names that pulled on the Guangzhou Evergrande shirt during their golden years read like a fantasy football wishlist. Brazilian striker Elkeson became the first naturalised Chinese international of Brazilian origin, and his goals were central to the dynasty. Fellow Brazilian Alan was another lethal finisher who terrorised CSL defences. The towering Paulinho, who had starred for Barcelona and the Brazilian national team, arrived in Guangzhou and rediscovered his very best form, cementing his legacy as one of the finest midfielders to grace Asian football.

Jackson Martínez, the Colombian striker who had lit up Portuguese football with Porto, made a jaw-dropping move to Guangzhou in 2016 for a reported fee of €42 million – one of the most expensive transfers in Asian football history. The Brazilian Ricardo Goulart was another attacking talent who mesmerised crowds at Tianhe Stadium.

On the domestic side, captain Zheng Zhi was the heartbeat of the team through years of success – a tireless, intelligent midfielder who embodied the club's competitive spirit and later became one of the most respected figures in Chinese football. Gao Lin and Zhang Linpeng were equally important pillars of the Chinese core that gave the squad its identity.

In the dugout, Marcello Lippi's two spells brought world-class tactical sophistication. The great Brazilian manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, 'Big Phil,' who had led Brazil and Portugal at World Cups, also took charge for a period, adding yet another layer of international prestige to a club that seemed determined to prove Chinese football could compete with the very best.

Guangzhou Evergrande's kits have always been built around their iconic red – a bold, passionate crimson that perfectly mirrors the club's outsized personality. In the early Evergrande years, the home shirts featured clean red designs with white trim, simple and striking in the way that great football shirts often are. The club badge, prominently displayed, evolved alongside the ownership changes but always carried that sense of institutional weight.

The 2013 AFC Champions League-winning shirt is the holy grail for collectors – a red home jersey worn during those famous continental nights that made history. The 2015 Champions League winning kit is equally prized, representing the second Asian crown and arguably the peak of the club's powers under Lippi.

As the decade progressed, kit designs became more elaborate, with manufacturers introducing bolder graphic elements, textured fabrics, and more intricate collar designs. Away shirts in white and occasionally gold provided handsome contrast options that are genuinely attractive collector pieces.

The Alibaba partnership years brought a slight modernisation of the visual identity, though the red remained inviolable. A retro Guangzhou Evergrande shirt from any point in the 2011–2018 golden era captures something unique in world football – the brief, brilliant moment when one club rewrote the possibilities for Asian football.