■ Guangzhou Shadow Leopard Football Team debuted.
■ Hand over the team flag
■ Head coach Li Bing (left)
■ Guangzhou fans help out
Guangzhou team was demoted, Guangzhou City was dissolved, and a football team jointly built by seven state-owned enterprises came.
On the afternoon of May 20th, Guangzhou tianhe sports center was full of people, and the newly-established Guangzhou Shadow Leopard Football Club was officially unveiled in the expectation of fans. After the demotion of Guangzhou team and the dissolution of Guangzhou City, this new team, which was jointly built by seven state-owned enterprises, bears the expectation that Guangzhou football will reappear brilliantly.
According to the schedule, next Monday, Guangzhou Shadow Leopard will start the first battle of the new season in the university town. Shadow Leopard coach Li Bing said: "Our goal is to strive for the fastest upgrade. I hope everyone can witness history with us!"
■ Written by: New Express reporter Wang Enemy
■ Photography: New Express reporter Bi Zhiyi
Seven state-owned enterprises jointly built in Guangzhou
After the end of last season, the Guangzhou team dropped from the Super League to the Chinese team. Before the start of this season, Guangzhou City was dissolved. There is no Guangzhou team in the Super League. Just before the dissolution of Guangzhou City, a new club was quietly registered in Guangzhou with a registered capital of 100 million yuan. This club is Guangzhou Shadow Leopard.
Shadow Leopard, this is the name of a hybrid car of GAC. As can be seen from this name, the major shareholder of this club is GAC. This club is jointly established by seven state-owned enterprises, of which GAC holds 19%, Guangzhou Port, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical and Guangzhou Baiyuexin each hold 15%, and industrial control, construction and production investment each hold 12%. The fans nicknamed the new club "Guangzhou United". As the major shareholder of the club, GAC is mainly responsible for the specific operation of the club, while several other state-owned enterprises are only responsible for capital contribution and marketing.
After the dissolution of Guangzhou City, Shadow Leopard absorbed most of the players of Guangzhou City U19, and some players of Guangzhou City First Team, such as Ceng Chao, Zhou Yuchen and Xiao Zhi, also joined the team. In addition, local players such as Liang Xueming and Deng Yubiao, who have fought in the Super League for many years, have also switched.
In the lineup, Shadow Leopard has the hard power to get a good ranking in the Chinese Crown. However, for the Chinese champion team, whether the pre-season training is complete or not is very important. Many Chinese champions have bring up the rear, a player in the Super League and the Chinese First Division, but whether the team can play its due level depends on whether the training is systematic. After the coaching team is in place, Shadow Leopard will start training, even though the team has no fixed base yet. From April 23rd to May 6th, Shadow Leopard trained in Meizhou for two weeks and warmed up with local teams many times. After returning from Meizhou on May 7, the whole team continued training in Shunde, Foshan, and played warm-up matches with several Chinese champions. Judging from the results of Shadow Leopard’s warm-up match, the team’s tactical running-in is not bad.
On the afternoon of May 20th, Shadow Leopard coach Li Bing and captain Liang Xueming made their official appearances. Li Bing said that it is very kind to return to work in Guangzhou. He said: "My coaching team likes Guangzhou very much. We hope to make the team a higher level team and strive for good results."
The most important thing in the first game on Monday is the first three games.
The Guangfo Division of the 2023 Chinese Champions League is scheduled to start in late May. There are two groups (Group K and Group L) in Guangfo Division. Guangzhou Shadow Leopard is divided into Group K, and the other three teams in the same group are Chengdu Yuhui Rende, Chongqing Benxiang and Xiamen 1026. From the afternoon of May 22nd, Shadow Leopard will start the first battle of the new season in the University Town Stadium.
According to the schedule, Shadow Leopard will play against three teams in the same group in five days. As a rule, only by winning the top two in the group can you get the qualification to participate in the division promotion and compete with the top two in the L group respectively. Since the record of the group stage will be brought into the promotion stage, and the two best players in the division stage can qualify for the next national competition, the five games in the division stage are very important, and the most important thing is the three rounds of the group stage within Group K.
It can almost be said that you have to win all three games in the group stage, and you can only accept a draw at most. On the contrary, if the group score is less than 7 points, Shadow Leopard is likely to be at a disadvantage in the next division promotion, even if it is successfully qualified.
Li Bing said that the competition is imminent, and the team should adjust its mood in addition to training. Li Bing said: "We must stay focused. In my communication with the players, I also stressed that everyone must have a peaceful attitude."
If Shadow Leopard wins the top two in Guangfo Division, the next top 16 in China will be divided into two groups, with 8 teams in each group playing a single round-robin match at home and away. The team with the best performance in each group can directly qualify for promotion, and the rest teams will play cross-qualifying. It is reported that this year’s promotion quota for the China Champions League is 4, but for Shadow Leopard, only by striving for the top two in the China Champions League can we ensure the promotion to China B..
Chen Xiushen, chairman and general manager of Shadow Leopard Club, said that Shadow Leopard Club was really happy to be established on such a special day as May 20th. Chen Xiushen said: "Guangzhou has a profound football foundation and a mass base. The establishment of Shadow Leopard is also Guangzhou’s insistence on the dream of football. It is a great honor for each of our enterprises to jointly invest in the establishment of the club. We hope that the team can rush to China B as soon as possible!"
The lineup is determined. Players say the goal is promotion.
At the expedition ceremony, many fans came to the celestial body to watch. Some fans said that they were supporters of Guangzhou City before, and after the dissolution of Guangzhou City, they chose to support the newly established Shadow Leopard. "Shadow Leopard has inherited many players in Guangzhou, so it must support Shadow Leopard." Fans said.
At the ceremony, Shadow Leopard also played an internal warm-up match for the fans, with the main players wearing yellow jerseys playing against the substitutes wearing gray jerseys. Although the weather was very hot, the players showed a good desire to play, and also let the fans see the hope of the team to achieve good results in the championship.
Liang Xueming, the captain of the team, is a native of Guangzhou, but he has been playing for foreign teams for many years. Shadow Leopard was his first Guangzhou team. Liang Xueming was not discouraged, although he came to the China Champions League from the Super League and the team level dropped from the first level to the fourth level. In an interview, Liang Xueming said that the atmosphere of the team is very good, and the team is very United, and its skills and tactics are gradually improving. "From the Super League to the Champions League, we actually want to play better. We have been training very hard. We have to strive for good results. I believe that when the game comes, there should be a very good state!"
The biggest player in Shadow Leopard is former international center Xiao Zhi. From 2016 to 2019, Xiao Zhi played in Guangzhou for four seasons and scored 22 goals in 85 appearances for the team. With his outstanding performance in Guangzhou, Xiao Zhi was also selected for the national team of Lippi era, and participated in the preliminaries and the Asian Cup. After leaving Guangzhou in 2020, Xiao Zhi moved to many teams, but he chose to play for Shadow Leopard when he settled in Guangzhou.
When it comes to participating in the China Champions League, Xiao Zhi said that this is only a starting point. "Our idea certainly doesn’t stop at winning the championship. Our goal is obvious, that is, to upgrade and rush to a high-level league."
● Shadow Leopard Group Stage Schedule
Schedule time against both sides
The first round, May 22nd, 16: 00, Guangzhou Shadow Leopard VS Xiamen 1026.
The second round, 19: 00 on May 24, Guangzhou Shadow Leopard VS Chongqing Benny.
The third round may 26th time to be determined Guangzhou Shadow Leopard VS Chengdu Yuhui Rende.
Venue: University Town Stadium