Guangdong South China Tiger F.C.

For the animal found in southern China, see South China tiger. For the Hong Kong rugby union club, see South China Tigers. For Guangdong basketball club, see Guangdong Southern Tigers.

Guangdong South China Tiger Football Club (simplified Chinese: 广东华南虎足球俱乐部; traditional Chinese: 廣東華南虎足球俱樂部; pinyin: Guǎngdōng Huánánhǔ Zúqiú Jùlèbù) or simply Guangdong South China Tiger (simplified Chinese: 广东华南虎; traditional Chinese: 廣東華南虎) was a professional Chinese football club that last participated in China League One. The team was based in Meixian District, Meizhou, Guangdong and their home stadium was the Meixian Tsang Hin-chi Stadium. Their majority shareholder was engineering, and construction company Shenzhen Techand Ecological Environment Co., Ltd.^[1]

Guangdong South China Tiger
Guǎngdōng Huánánhǔ
广东华南虎

Full name	Guangdong South China Tiger Football Club 广东华南虎足球俱乐部
Founded	3 July 2003; 20 years ago (2003-07-03)
Dissolved	3 February 2020; 3 years ago (2020-02-03)
Ground	Meixian Tsang Hin-chi Stadium
Capacity	20,221
Owner	Shenzhen Techand Ecological Environment Co., Ltd.
Chairman	Wen Jianda
Manager	Fu Bo
League	China League One
2019	League One, 11th
Home colours Away colours

History

The club was founded on 3 July 2003 as Dongguan Nancheng F.C. (Simplified Chinese: 东莞南城足球俱乐部) by the Dongguan City Sports Bureau who created them as a Phoenix club to Guangdong Hongyuan F.C. who were sold-off and moved cities in 2001.^[2][3] The club would then gain entry to participate within the 2003–04 Hong Kong First Division League as a foreign team within the league.^[4] The Dongguan City Sports Bureau gained sponsorship and investment from real estate developers South City Real Estate Development Company, Guangdong Hongyuan Real Estate Development Company, Guangdong Enterprises Group Co., Ltd., China Everbright, Huang City Development Co., Ltd., Dongguan City Royal Garden residential construction Limited, Carnation New Garden Construction Co., Ltd., The new Bank of Development and Construction Co., Ltd., Dongguan Kuari Footwear Holdings Limited and Dongguan CITIC Group before participating within the league where they finished sixth.^[5][6] The club only spent one season within the Hong Kong league, which was mired by their on-field disciplinary issues against Buler Rangers on March 7, 2004 that saw nine players from Dongguan Nancheng and six from Buler Rangers suspended for their behaviour.^[7][8] After the season ended the club deciding to switch to the Chinese league system in the 2005 league season where they started within the third tier. In the campaign they topped the group stages and reached the semi-final within the play-off's where they lost 3–2 to Nancheng Bayi Hengyuan in extra time, missing out on promotion.^[9] After that disappointment the club pulled out of the league and disbanded their first team, however they still maintained their youth system after the season ended.

The club rejoined the China League Two division in 2011 and made significant changes to the club, such as changing their home ground to Dongguan Nancheng Sports Park Stadium, altering their uniforms from red to yellow tops with blue shorts, building a new squad from their existing youth team, changes that saw the club reach the semi-finals of the division play-offs.^[10] The club moved to the city of Meizhou and changed their name as Meixian Hakka F.C. on 12 December 2012 making them the first professional football club in Meizhou, which the city like to proclaim as the "Homeland of football" in China due to it being where the Europeans introduced Association football to the country as well as paying homage to the former Chinese footballer and coach Lee Wai Tong who grew up there.^[11] This was followed by a move into Meixian Tsang Hin-chi Stadium and a new Head coach in Hirokazu Sakuma. In March 2015 engineering, and construction company Shenzhen Techand Ecological Environment Co., Ltd. took over the club.^[12] Once again the club changed its name to Meizhou Meixian Hakka F.C. in January 2016.^[13] On 30 December 2016, they changed their name to Meizhou Meixian Techand F.C. so as not to be confused with local rivals Meizhou Hakka F.C.^[14] A new badge, a change in home colours to red over the previous yellow tops and blue shorts would complete their transformation of the club.^[15] In the 2017 league season under the management of Li Haiqiang the club came runners-up to Heilongjiang Lava Spring F.C. in the division and gained promotion to the second tier for the first time, which saw the players given a bonus of £2.86 million.^[16]

The club deleted the owner's information from their name and changed to Guangdong South China Tiger F.C. in answer to Chinese FA's new regulation in January 2019.^[17] The club announced its dissolution in February 2020.^[18]

Name history

• 2003–2012 Dongguan Nancheng F.C. 东莞南城
• 2013–2015 Meixian Hakka F.C. 梅县客家
• 2016 Meizhou Meixian Hakka F.C. 梅州梅县客家
• 2017–2018 Meizhou Meixian Techand F.C. 梅州梅县铁汉
• 2019–2020 Guangdong South China Tiger F.C. 广东华南虎

Coaching staff

Position	Staff
Head coach	Fu Bo
Assistant coach	Paco Imbernón   Li Haiqiang   Poon Man Chun
Goalkeeping coach	David Pérez
Fitness coach	Javier López

Source: CFA

Managerial history

•   Li Hu (2011)
•   Goran Paulic (2012)
•   Hirokazu Sakuma (2013)
•   Tomoo Tsukoshi (2014)
•   Wang Hongwei (2015–2016)
•   Li Haiqiang (2017)
•   Juan Ignacio Martínez (2018)
•   Fu Bo (2018–2020)

Results

All-time league rankings

As of the end of 2019 season.^[19]

Year	Div	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Pos.	FA Cup	Super Cup	AFC	Att./G	Stadium
2003/04^1	1	18	5	5	8	25	31	−8	20	6	R1	DNQ	DNQ		Dongguan Stadium
2005	3	19	11	4	4	30	14	16	29	3^[20]	DNE	DNQ	DNQ
2011	3	25	11	7	7	32	21	11	36^2	4^[21]	DNE	DNQ	DNQ		Dongguan Nancheng Sports Park Stadium
2012	3	24	12	4	8	41	30	11	40	6^2	DNE	DNQ	DNQ	1,488	Dongguan Nancheng Sports Park, Meixian Tsang Hin-chi Stadium
2013	3	14	4	3	7	11	20	−9	15^2	7^[22]	R1	DNQ	DNQ		Meixian Tsang Hin-chi Stadium
2014	3	16	7	4	5	25	20	5	25	5^2	R2	DNQ	DNQ
2015	3	16	7	6	3	15	9	6	24^2	5^[23]	R1	DNQ	DNQ
2016	3	20	8	11	1	26	17	9	35	7	R2	DNQ	DNQ	5,219
2017	3	27	15	4	8	39	27	12	49	RU	R3	DNQ	DNQ	3,863
2018	2	30	8	10	12	41	44	−3	34	14	R3	DNQ	DNQ	6,550
2019	2	30	10	6	14	41	50	-9	36	11	R3	DNQ	DNQ

Dongguan Nancheng didn't compete in 2006–2010.

• ^1 At Hong Kong First Division League
• ^2 In group stage.

Key

China top division   China second division   China third division W   Winners RU   Runners-up 3   Third place   Relegated

Pld = Played W = Games won D = Games drawn L = Games lost F = Goals for A = Goals against Pts = Points Pos = Final position

DNQ = Did not qualify DNE = Did not enter NH = Not Held  – = Does Not Exist R1 = Round 1 R2 = Round 2 R3 = Round 3 R4 = Round 4

F = Final SF = Semi-finals QF = Quarter-finals R16 = Round of 16 Group = Group stage GS2 = Second Group stage QR1 = First Qualifying Round QR2 = Second Qualifying Round QR3 = Third Qualifying Round

See also

• Guangdong Winnerway F.C.

References

1. "梅县客家足球俱乐部更名为梅县铁汉足球俱乐部". mz.southcn.com. 2016-12-30. Retrieved 2017-01-20.
2. "青岛海利丰更名合肥创亿-甲Ｂ出现新面孔". china.com.cn. 2002-05-10. Retrieved 2017-01-20.
3. . vvtai.com. 2016-07-07. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-01-20.
4. "东莞南城征战乙级联赛 首年不提冲甲只提锻炼". sports.163.com. 2011-05-06. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
5. "东莞足球目标冲甲". sina.com. 2003-07-06. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
6. "Hongkong 2003/04". RSSSF. 2005-01-01. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
7. "流浪南城東莞對賽爆醜聞港粵球隊40人球場毆鬥8分鐘". hk.news.appledaily.com. 2004-03-08. Retrieved 2018-01-30.
8. "禁赛港脚花钱"赎身" 港币砸开3.31中港战之门". sports.sohu.com. 2004-03-17. Retrieved 2018-01-30.
9. "China 2005". RSSSF. 2006-10-26. from the original on September 29, 2012. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
10. "中乙-10人东莞1–0抚顺 总分3–3客场进球多进4强". sports.sohu.com. 2011-10-10. Retrieved 2018-01-30.
11. 足球之乡诞生首家职业俱乐部 2013年冲甲是目标 sports.sohu.com 2012-12-24 Retrieved 2016-04-08
12. . meizhou.cn. 2016-12-30. Archived from the original on 2016-12-30. Retrieved 2018-01-30.
13. 关于梅县客家足球俱乐部主要股权转让并更名的公示 2018-01-16 at the Wayback Machine fa.org.cn 2016-01-13 Retrieved 2016-04-08
14. 关于梅州市梅县区客家足球俱乐部有限责任公司更名的公告 2016-12-30 at the Wayback Machine fa.org.cn 2016-12-30 Retrieved 2016-12-30
15. "梅县铁汉获2017中乙联赛亚军，与黑龙江携手进军中甲". mxtechand.com. 2017-11-12. Retrieved 2018-04-22.
16. "CHINESE SIDE MEIXIAN TECHAND CELEBRATE PROMOTION WITH MOUNTAINS OF CASH". goal.com. 2017-10-30. Retrieved 2018-01-30.
17. 关于梅州市梅县区铁汉足球俱乐部有限公司更名的公告. Chinese FA (in Chinese). 2019-01-14. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
18. Sun Donghao. "曝中甲球队广东华南虎俱乐部宣布正式解散". iqilu.com. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
19. 梅县客家 (in Chinese). sodasoccer.com. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
20. 2005年中国足球协会乙级联赛决赛阶段名次 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine fa.org.cn 2013-04-30 Retrieved 2016-04-08
21. 2011年中国足球协会乙级联赛决赛阶段名次 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine fa.org.cn 2013-04-30 Retrieved 2016-04-08
22. 2013年中国足球协会乙级联赛决赛阶段名次 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine fa.org.cn 2015-08-07 Retrieved 2016-04-08
23. 2015年中国足球协会乙级联赛决赛阶段名次 fa.org.cn 2016-05-09 Retrieved 2016-05-16

External links

• Official club website (in Chinese)