2012 Guangzhou Evergrande F.C. season explained

Club:	Guangzhou Evergrande 2012
Stadium:	Tianhe Stadium
League:	Super League
League Result:	1st
Cup1:	FA Cup
Cup1 Result:	Winners
Cup2:	FA Super Cup
Cup2 Result:	Winners
Cup3:	AFC Champions League
Cup3 Result:	Quarterfinals
Chairman:	Liu Yongzhuo
Manager:	Lee Jang-Soo (to 16 May) Marcello Lippi (from 17 May)
League Topscorer:	Muriqui (12 goals)
Season Topscorer:	Darío Conca (17 goals)
Highest Attendance:	47,869 vs Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 1 May 2012 (Champions League)
Lowest Attendance:	28,128 vs Henan Jianye 18 July 2012 (FA Cup)
Average Attendance:	league: 37,250 all: 37,265
Prevseason:	2011
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The 2012 Guangzhou Evergrande season is the 59th year in Guangzhou Evergrande's existence and is its 45th season in the Chinese football league, also its 23rd season in the top flight. The club played in the AFC Champions League for the first time in club's history after winning the league title in the 2011 season.

Review

26 December 2011, Guangzhou confirmed that they had signed Zhao Xuri, Rong Hao, Li Jianbin and Peng Xinli for a total report fee of ¥30 million.^[1]
10 January 2012, Chinese midfielder Qin Sheng moved from Liaoning Whowin to Guangzhou with an undisclosed fee.
25 February 2012, Guangzhou beat Tianjin Teda 2–1 in the 2012 Chinese FA Super Cup, winning this trophy for the first time in the club's history. Cléo scored both goals of the match.
7 March 2012, Guangzhou beat K-League champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 5–1 away in the club's first AFC Champions League match.^[2]
2 May 2012, Guangzhou Evergrande announced that they had signed Lucas Barrios from German Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund on a four-year deal for a domestic record fee of €8.5 million.^[3]
4 May 2012, Darío Conca received a ban of at least 9 matches (including reserve league match) and was fined ¥1 million by the club for his remarks about the team manager Lee Jang-Soo's decision on Weibo.^[4]
15 May 2012, Guangzhou beat Buriram United 2–1 and advanced to the knockout phase of AFC Champions League.^[5]
17 May 2012, former Italian World Cup-winning football manager Marcello Lippi was appointed as the new manager of club, signing a two-and-a-half-year deal.^[6]
30 May 2012, Guangzhou beat J-League side FC Tokyo 1–0 in the Round of 16 of AFC Champions League, and became the first Chinese club to reach the quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League since 2006.^[7]
20 June 2012, CFA committee voted to pass a rule change allowing CSL clubs, who were still competing in the AFC Champions League, to add two more foreign players. Guangzhou Evergrande would be the only club able to take advantage out of the new rule change in the 2012 league season.^[8]
2 July 2012, Guangzhou Evergrande announced that they had signed South Korea national team defender Kim Young-Gwon on a four-year deal with a fee of US$2.5 million.^[9]
3 July 2012, Muriqui signed a new contract with Guangzhou Evergrande, keeping him at the club until 30 June 2016.^[10]
7 July 2012, Huang Bowen transferred to Guangzhou from K-League side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors with a reported fee of US$2 million.
15 July 2012, Guangzhou Evergrande lost to Guangzhou R&F 0–1 at Tianhe Stadium, which ended club's record 34-league-home-match unbeaten run, as well as record 36-league-home-match scoring run.
2 October 2012, Guangzhou Evergrande was knocked out of the AFC Champions League in the quarter-finals by Al Ittihad 5–4 on aggregate.
27 October 2012, Guangzhou Evergrande won the league title for the second time in two years after beating Liaoning Whowin 1–0, with Gao Lin scoring the winning goal at the 90' minute to seal the title.
18 November 2012, Guangzhou Evergrande won their first Chinese FA Cup title, defeating Guizhou Renhe by a score of 4–2, on aggregate 5–3.

Players

Out on loan

Technical staff

width=160	Name	width=20	Nat.	width=330	Job title
Marcello Lippi		Head coach (from 17 May 2012)
Narciso Pezzotti		Assistant coaches (from 17 May 2012)
Massimiliano Maddaloni		Assistant coaches (from 17 May 2012)
Li Tie		Assistant coach (from 26 May 2012)
Michelangelo Rampulla		Goalkeeping coach (from 17 May 2012)
Claudio Gaudino		Fitness coach (from 17 May 2012)
Peng Weiguo		Reserve team coach (from 21 May 2012)
Enrico Castellacci		Medical adviser (from 27 July 2012)
Silvano Cotti		Team doctor / Physiotherapist (from 27 July 2012)
Georg Meyer		Physiotherapist
Liu Shulai		Team doctors
Kang Kebao
Wang Shucheng
Franco Ceravolo		Chief scout (from 5 September 2012)



Lee Jang-Soo		Head coach (to 16 May 2012)
Qiu Ming		Assistant coaches (to 16 May 2012)
Kim Yong-Kab
Lee Min-Sung
Wang Weiman		Goalkeeping coach (to 16 May 2012)
Jiang Feng		Fitness coach (to 16 May 2012)
Qu Shengqing		Reserve team coach (to 16 May 2012)
Kim Hyo-Jung		Technical analyst (to 16 May 2012)

Transfers

Winter

In:^[1] ^[1] ^[1] ^[11] ^[1] Out: ^[12] ^[13] ^[12] ^[14]

Summer

In:^[3] ^[9] ^[15] Out: ^[16] ^[17]

Pre-season and friendlies

Training matches

width=10%	Date	width=20%	Opponents	width=5%	H / A	width=10%	Result	width=25%	Scorers
2012-01-14	Dalian Aerbin	H	3–1	Memet Ali, Jiang Xiaochen (2 goals)
2012-01-17	Guizhou Renhe	H	1–0	Gao Lin
2012-01-18	Shenyang Dongjin	H	1–2	Tan Jiajun
2012-01-19	Dalian Aerbin	H	2–0	Zheng Zhi, Liang Xueming
2012-01-27	Cádiz	A	1–1	Muriqui
2012-01-28	Videoton	N	1–2	Jiang Ning
2012-01-31	Dinamo Tbilisi	N	3–0	Cléo, Conca, Muriqui
2012-02-01	FC Wil	N	1–2	Tan Jiajun
2012-02-04	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	N	1–2	Ye Weichao
2012-02-07	UD Marbella	A	0–1
2012-02-19	Incheon United	H	2–2	Wu Pingfeng, Feng Junyan
2012-03-03	Myongji University	A	1–2	Shi Hongjun

Marbella Cup 2012

See main article: 2012 Marbella Cup.

2012 CSL All-Stars Game

See main article: 2012 CSL All-Stars Game.

Competitions

Chinese Super League

See main article: 2012 Chinese Super League.

Matches

Group stage

+Group H
width=190	Team	width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20	width=20	width=20	width=20	width=20
Guangzhou Evergrande	6	3	1	2	12	8	+4	10
Kashiwa Reysol	6	3	1	2	11	7	+4	10
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	6	3	0	3	10	15	−5	9
Buriram United	6	2	0	4	8	11	−3	6

Knockout stage

See main article: 2012 AFC Champions League knockout stage.

Quarter-finals

Squad statistics

No.	Pos.	Player name	Super League					FA Cup					Champions League					Super Cup					TOTALS
No.	Pos.	Player name	Apps.	Starts	Goals			Apps.	Starts	Goals			Apps.	Starts	Goals			Apps.	Starts	Goals			Apps.	Starts	Goals
1	GK	Yang Jun	20	20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	7	0	2	0	1	1	0	0	0	28	28	0	2	0
2	DF	Tu Dongxu	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0
3	DF	Paulão	19	13	0	2	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	21	15	0	2	0
4	DF	Rong Hao	3	2	0	0	0	3	2	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	5	0	0	0
5	DF	Zhang Linpeng	21	21	2	6	1	3	3	1	0	0	7	7	0	4	0	1	1	0	0	0	32	32	3	10	1
6	DF	Feng Xiaoting	19	18	0	6	0	3	3	0	0	0	9	9	0	1	0	1	1	0	1	0	32	31	0	8	0
7	MF	Feng Junyan	14	5	1	2	0	6	4	0	1	0	7	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	27	10	1	3	0
8	MF	Qin Sheng	21	16	1	6	0	4	4	0	2	0	5	4	0	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	31	24	1	11	0
9	FW	Cléo	28	22	7	3	0	4	3	1	0	0	7	7	4	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	40	33	14	3	0
10	MF	Zheng Zhi	24	20	1	12	0	3	3	1	1	0	9	9	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	36	32	2	14	0
11	FW	Muriqui	20	18	12	5	0	2	1	0	0	0	8	7	3	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	31	27	15	5	0
12	GK	Dong Chunyu	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
13	DF	Tang Dechao	7	5	0	1	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	7	0	1	1
14	DF	Li Jianhua	17	13	1	1	0	4	3	1	1	0	4	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	26	18	2	2	0
15	MF	Darío Conca	24	21	10	1	0	2	2	1	1	0	9	9	6	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	36	33	17	3	0
16	MF	Cho Won-Hee	17	15	0	1	0	2	2	0	1	0	7	7	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	27	25	0	3	0
17	MF	Gao Zhilin	3	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	1	0	0	0
18	FW	Lucas Barrios	8	3	2	0	0	6	5	3	0	0	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	16	10	6	0	0
19	DF	Li Jianbin	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0
21	FW	Jiang Ning	15	10	4	0	0	2	0	1	1	0	4	2	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	22	12	5	2	0
22	GK	Li Shuai	10	10	0	0	0	6	6	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	18	18	0	0	0
23	MF	Li Zhilang	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
24	MF	Shi Hongjun	2	1	0	0	0	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2	0	1	0
25	MF	Peng Xinli	1	1	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	0	0	0
26	MF	Wu Pingfeng	19	10	1	1	0	3	3	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	25	13	2	1	0
27	FW	Ye Weichao	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
28	DF	Kim Young-Gwon	7	7	0	0	0	4	4	0	1	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	13	13	0	1	0
29	FW	Gao Lin	24	20	6	2	0	3	2	0	1	1	9	8	2	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	37	31	8	3	1
31	DF	Zhang Hongnan	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0
32	DF	Sun Xiang	25	24	0	3	1	2	2	0	0	0	8	8	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	36	35	0	4	1
33	MF	Li Yan	3	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	1	1	0
34	MF	Huang Jiaqiang	4	3	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	3	0	1	0
35	FW	Mehmet Ali	6	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	2	0	0	0
37	MF	Zhao Xuri	20	16	1	4	0	5	4	1	1	0	8	6	0	2	0	1	1	0	1	0	34	27	2	8	0
39	MF	Tan Jiajun	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
42	MF	Huang Bowen	9	8	1	2	0	3	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	13	9	2	3	0
OWN GOAL
TOTALS					51	60	3			11	12	1			17	17	0			2	3	0			81	92	4
TOTALS

Notes and References

http://sports.sina.com.cn/j/2011-12-26/15085883182.shtml 恒大官方宣布签四名新援国足三将携潜力新星加盟
https://archive.today/20121216152730/http://www.the-afc.com/en/tournaments/clubs/afc-champions-league/935-afc-champions-league-2012/38227-jeonbuk-hyundai-motors-v-guangzhou-evergrande Jeonbuk Motors 1–5 Guangzhou Evergrande
Web site: 卢卡斯•巴里奥斯（Lucas Ramón Barrios）正式签约广州恒大足球俱乐部 . Guangzhou Evergrande Official Website . 2 May 2012 . 2 May 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120507224905/http://www.gzevergrandefc.com/show_content.php?id=3977 . 7 May 2012 .
http://www.gzevergrandefc.com/show_content.php?id=4001 关于对外援孔卡的处理决定
News: Buriram United 1–2 Guangzhou Evergrande . https://archive.today/20121209083219/http://www.the-afc.com/en/tournaments/clubs/afc-champions-league/935-afc-champions-league-2012/39136-buriram-united-v-guangzhou-evergrande . dead . 9 December 2012 . the-afc.com . 15 May 2012 . 16 May 2012 .
http://www.gzevergrandefc.com/show_content.php?id=4054 关于聘任马塞洛•里皮担任广州恒大足球队主教练的公告
News: Guangzhou Evergrande 1–0 FC Tokyo . https://archive.today/20120912133104/http://www.the-afc.com/en/tournaments/clubs/afc-champions-league/935-afc-champions-league-2012/39320-guangzhou-vs-fc-tokyo . dead . 12 September 2012 . the-afc.com . 30 May 2012 . 30 May 2012 .
http://www.goal.com/en/news/3801/chinahong-kong/2012/06/21/3189851/chinese-fa-passes-controversial-rule-change-allowing Chinese FA passes controversial rule change allowing Guangzhou Evergrande extra foreign players
http://www.gzevergrandefc.com/show_content.php?id=4215 韩国外援金英权正式加盟广州恒大足球俱乐部
http://globoesporte.globo.com/futebol/futebol-internacional/noticia/2012/07/muriqui-renova-contrato-com-guangzhou-evergrande-ate-2016.html Muriqui renova contrato com Guangzhou Evergrande até 2016
http://sports.qq.com/a/20120108/000789.htm 迟到一年的牵手! 恒大超低价签新疆小将开提
http://sports.163.com/12/0106/00/7N216BL200051C89.html 恒大两小将转会陈建龙投南昌郭子超加盟日之泉
http://sports.163.com/12/0105/23/7N1TQGPA00051C89.html 高洪波苦追恒大小将前国青快马杨一虎加盟陕西
http://sports.sina.com.cn/b/2012-02-01/00215925247.shtml 红钻龙年首签锁恒大小将特帅称仍有强援或弃基伦
http://www.gzevergrandefc.com/show_content.php?id=4227 黄博文正式加盟广州恒大足球俱乐部
http://www.gzevergrandefc.com/show_content.php?id=4234 关于球员李岩租借广州富力足球俱乐部的公告
http://www.gzevergrandefc.com/show_content.php?id=4195 关于巴西外援雷纳多转会日本鹿岛鹿角队的公告