In the history of football in China, "Phoenix" may be an absurd story. An American played a scam and almost let a professional team face dissolution. In the history of Guangzhou football, "R&F" is a miracle. A China team with a cost of 30 million yuan can overtake in April. Perhaps the title of "Phoenix Nirvana" is the most appropriate to state this story. However, in this year, this team, once named after Phoenix, had too many ups and downs and twists and turns.
□ Special feature Information Times reporter Zou Chen Tian Wenjie
From 200 1 to 20 10, from Shenyang to Changsha, from Super League to China A, Jinde experienced the first demotion in the first 10 year after becoming attached to football, and Jinde decided to quit professional football. After the end of the 20 10 season, Jinde players were informed by the club that all players were free to find their next home and the club would not stop them. At that time, it was predicted that the club might even face dissolution.
"Phoenix" spreads its wings and wants to fly
Huang Zhu (Weibo), a native of Shenzhen, used to be a die-hard fan. In 2007, because of football, he met Ronald, an American, and they became business partners. Huang Zhu always wanted to do something for China football, while businessman Ronarch wanted to buy a China team. When Jinde decided to quit football in China, they had the desire to buy a team.
"There is a Wu Tong in Shenzhen, which attracts the phoenix, and the phoenix can be nirvana. I hope the team will be reborn on the basis of Kinder and become an' immortal bird' ... "At the end of February, Ronaldinho, the owner of MAZAMBA, an American sporting goods company, authorized Huang Zhu to quickly acquire Kinder Club and changed its name to Phoenix Club. Huang Zhu hopes that the Shenzhen team will become the "immortal bird" of Shenzhen. The team immediately moved to Shenzhen, and the wishes of Huang Zhu and Ronachi were basically realized. The latter promised to invest 40 million yuan this season, and the former became the general manager of the club and the executor of the club's decision. Subsequently, on behalf of the club, Huang Zhu hired Li Shubin, a former national football teaching assistant, as the coach of Phoenix Team, and Zhang Zengqun, a former coach of Shenzhen Football Team, as the team leader.
On February 24th, Phoenix trained for the first time, and there were only 8 people in the training that day. However, a few days later, with the efforts of Huang Zhu and the coaching staff, Phoenix retained a group of players who had previously played for Jinde. At the same time, the team introduced former international players, including Zhang Shuo (Weibo), Sui Donglu (Weibo) and Cao Tianbao. In terms of foreign aid, former Luneng main force Zhikov, former Chengdu midfielder Harrison, and Angolan striker Johnson, who played in the Super League for many years, also joined in.
Arrears of wages ruined everything.
When funds enter and excellent players join, the feeling of the Phoenix team is to do a big job. However, the accident that followed was unexpected. ...
The disillusionment of Phoenix's good wishes is caused by unpaid wages. Due to the renovation of the Shenzhen Universiade venues, the Phoenix team's family was forced to move to Dongguan, live in the humble dormitory of Cheng Nan Sports Team, and take Cheng Nan Stadium as their home. After the opening of the league, Phoenix got off to a bad start. In the first three rounds, it ranked second from the bottom in the standings with 1, draw and 2 losses, but in the next four rounds, it won four consecutive victories and immediately rose to the second place in the standings.
No matter from the aspects of "investment", personnel composition, team record, etc., this Phoenix team is "perfect" in all aspects, and even regarded as a hot spot for overtaking this season by the outside world. However, in the League A 10 round, the Phoenix team was defeated by Hunan Xiangtao team, which ranked second to last at that time. After this unusual score, the team exposed the main problems behind the club. It turned out that Ronaldinho, the owner of Mazamba, never invested a penny in the team after "buying" the club. The operation of the club is supported by millions of pounds borrowed from Huang Zhu. For months, the players didn't.
On May 24th, Wang Bin, a member of Phoenix Team, posted a photo marked "Last Supper" on Weibo, which was quickly forwarded on Weibo. At that time, because the team didn't pay the meals, the players' canteen and the sports canteen of Cheng Nan Sports Center were forced to stop feeding the Phoenix team from 25th. A month later, Ronachi still didn't show up to solve the problem, and Huang Zhu continued to borrow money from his friends to raise enough money to keep the team alive.
On June 22nd, Huang Zhu announced that because American companies didn't show up to solve the funding problem, he was unable to pay the running expenses of the team and owed millions of debts, so that the team could be ready for dissolution the next day. But at the same time, he said that there might be a miracle the next day, otherwise it would really be dissolved. That night, some players have already booked their air tickets to go home, and some players have started to call familiar clubs and are ready to leave through the "second transfer".
R&F saves the bottom of the sea.
On the afternoon when Huang Zhu announced that the team might be dissolved, the team was still preparing for the weekend away game against Shenyang Jin Dong. After the training, Li Shubin received a phone call and hurried to the gymnasium dormitory, where he met Huang Zhu, who brought him good news: the team was saved.
On July 1 day, R&F Group held a press conference and announced that it would acquire Changsha Jinde Club for14.6 million yuan, of which 6.5 million yuan was compensation for Jinde to pay off last year's debts, and most of the rest was used to compensate the wages and bonuses owed by Phoenix Team this year, including the money owed to foreign aid. Guangzhou Football Association became the middleman of this acquisition and played the role of "trustee" during the publicity period of this transaction. At this point, Phoenix changed its name to R&F and moved its home from Dongguan Cheng Nan Sports Center to Yuexiu Mountain.
At the press conference, Zhang Li, the chairman of R&F, made it clear that the short-term goal requires the R&F team to overtake this season and surpass three in the middle of next season, and the long-term plan is to build the R&F team into a Guangzhou team with a southern style of play. After R&F entered the club, the team bought Harewood, a former Premier League player, for 5 million yuan, with a bonus of 600,000 yuan for winning every game and no bonus for drawing. The club hopes to encourage the team to make up their minds to win every game. Later, after the success of R&F overtaking, someone calculated the account, the purchase price, and the winning prize (not including the unpublished overtaking prize for the time being), and the cost of R&F overtaking was no more than 30 million, so it was considered that R&F created the "lowest cost" of overtaking.
Overtaking in four months.
China, ranked ninth, overtook in four months, and R&F did it.
After R&F moved to Guangzhou, the pattern of "one city and three teams" appeared in Guangzhou. Evergrande dominates the Super League, and Guangzhou R&F and Guangdong Rizhiquan, a Chinese team in the same city, face fierce competition in the remaining football market. With the intervention of real estate, the Sun Spring team, which was originally aiming at the top four in China, felt the pressure from its opponents and put forward the slogan of overtaking. Since the 14 league tournament, R&F and Rizhiquan have launched a fierce overtaking contest. Prior to this, Sun Spring ranked third with a score of 2 1 minute, and R&F ranked ninth with a score of 17.
From 14 to the 22nd round, the two teams remained unbeaten. After the 22nd round, R&F narrowed the gap to 2 points, with Sun Spring and R&F ranking second and third respectively. Until the 23rd round, the fate of the two teams took a dramatic turn. Sun Spring lost to Shenyang 2-3 at home, but defeated Hunan 2-0. R&F successfully surpassed the Sun Spring in integral, and firmly held the initiative in its own hands.
Sun Chunchun did not give up because of this. In the 24th round of the league, when R&F scored all 3 points, Sun Spring beat Shenyang Shenbei 2 goals away in the last 5 minutes and beat his opponent 2-0, and the suspense remained until the 25th round.
1October 22nd, 10, the R&F team returned to Yuexiu Mountain to face the challenge for the first time. In the end, Zhang Shuo won the victory in Shanghai East Asia with 1: 0, but Sun Quan lost at the crucial moment, making the home challenge of the R&F team a historic moment.
The moment the pain comes.
201110/October 22nd, 16: 08, Yuexiu Stadium, the whistle sounded at the end of the match between R&F and East Asia. At this moment, R&F overtook successfully. ...
At that moment, the officials and coaches of the R&F club rushed to the stadium and cheered with the players. Lu Yi, assistant chairman of the R&F club, and Liu Jianhong, owner of the R&F club, were thrown into the air by the players. As property owners, they felt the passion and excitement brought by professional football for the first time. At that moment, many R&F players shed tears, and Li Shubin of the coaching staff was red-eyed, and the hand that answered the phone could not help shaking. "Thanks to the fans, thanks to Guangzhou, 20 12", a banner tells the voices of the players, and maybe in the coming year, they can achieve better development on a higher platform.
At that moment, Huang Zhu, once the general manager of Phoenix Club, did not witness this historical moment in front of the TV. He owes millions of debts for playing football, and he is working hard for a living in order to support his family. Huang Zhu said that recently, the American company Ronaldinho sent a German representative to negotiate with him and the China Football Association. Although the money owed before has not been repaid, the German representative expressed his interest in China football to the China Football Association.
At that moment, the story continued. Their football story is not over yet. ...