#18 Guangzhou Evergrande (Away, 2010)

17:15 asia football shirts , asian football , beijing guoan , china football , chinese football shirts , chinese league , guangzhou away shirt , guangzhou evergrande , jaime pacheco 1 Comments

This Guangzhou shirt was, as you know if you keep reading my blog everyday (and I know you do!), one of my latest buys. Its design, the chinese characters on the front, and its rarity makes it obviously one of my favorite ones. Guangzhou Evergrande is the current champion of the Chinese SuperLeague, but this lovely away shirt was used during their spell in China League One, the 2nd division in chinese football, after a match-fixing scandal.

Usually, relegations are not really atractive in terms of football investment, but the Evergrande Real Estate Group didn't share this thoughts, and bought the club in 2010. Evergrande's millions turned the club into the main force in Chinese football, mostly thanks to some big-name signings. First, they started with some local talent, and then they brought Muriqui in from Atletico Mineiro, for 3,5 M€, the highest fee ever paid in China.

Muriqui modeling my shirt

After promotion, their ambitions grew even bigger, and they had no problem signing Fluminense star Dario Conca, a talented argentinian attacking midfielder named twice as the Campeonato Brasileiro best player. Taking Conca to an Asian league wasn't cheap, though: he earns more than $10 million a year, not bad for a player with just 9 U21 caps for Argentina.

This shirts looks cool too. Nike did well with Guangzhou.

Muriqui, Conca and brazilian striker Cléo obviously had an immediate impact, and Guangzhou won the Chinese League quite easily. Let's see how they'll do in the Asian Champions League.

The Chinese SuperLeague has actually some portuguese guys around. And some of them are true Boavista legends. Manager Jaime Pacheco, that lead Boavista to the only league title in our history, is now Beijing Guoan's boss. He finished 2nd, and he recently extended his contract, so I guess they love him there. He's not quite popular in Portugal, but no doubts he was amazing during his first spell at Boavista.

"Hit that! More tackles!", shouts Pacheco.

Pacheco won the award for Best Manager this season, but he's not the only Boavista symbol with fans over there. Manuel Barbosa, a former Youth Football Director in Boavista, and the player with most appearences ever in the chequered shirt, managed to get into the Cup Final. Nelo Vingado also coaches some mid-table club. So, as you can see, portuguese lads are doing well in China. Maybe I should go there too.

Now, back to the shirt.


The chinese characters add an exotic look to the shirt, and the design is generally good. I like the blue/light-blue combination, and the golden lines also make the shirt look... asian. Don't know how to explain this, though, but it certainly does.




Their badge is also quite original. Modern, I'd say.


It'd be quite cool to buy more stuff from Asian clubs, but shirts are usually way too expensive. I was happy to get this one for around 35€ on eBay, but it was definitly one of the cheapest I've seen. I wouldn't say it's hard to find shirts from Chinese, Japanese or Korean clubs now (specially on eBay), but the price tag is always a bit frightening. For example, a quick look on eBay for a Beijing Guoan shirt returns items ranging between $52 and $142. That makes me sad: asian club shirts are always quite distinctive and original, and would fit just perfectly in my collection.

With these instructions, I bet my shirt would end up really tiny and pink.