User:IDontHaveSkype/Beijing Guoan history (2010 onwards)

Pre-2010 (translation)

zh:北京国安足球俱乐部历史

1994

The 1994 Jia-A League marked the first season of China's professional football league and also Beijing Guoan's inaugural professional season. In their first match, Guoan played away against Guangdong Winnerway and ultimately won 2-0. This match became Guoan's first victory in a professional league, with Yang Chen scoring the team's first professional league goal.

Beijing Guoan's journey in 1994 was relatively uneventful. Under the leadership of head coach Tang Pengju, the team did not exhibit particularly outstanding performances, aside from winning 5-1 and 6-0 at home against Shanghai Shenhua and Shenyang Liuyao respectively. Throughout the season, Guoan scored 42 goals but also conceded 34, making it the season with the highest average goals scored and conceded per game in the club's history. The team's weak defense became a bottleneck restricting their performance.

At the end of the season, as the team only ranked eighth out of the twelve participating teams, the club decided to replace the head coach. Jin Zhiyang, who was then the assistant to Tang Pengju, replaced the former and became the second head coach in Guoan's history. This decision brought about the first peak in the development of Guoan.

1995

In 1995, under Jin Zhiyang's leadership, Beijing Guoan showed high technical and tactical levels along with strong team spirit, achieving commendable results. At the start of the 1995 season, faced with the unsatisfactory league ranking from the previous year, Jin Zhiyang implemented significant reforms. He promoted young players like Xie Chaoyang, Han Xu, and Nan Fang to the first team, recalled former national player Gao Hongbo, brought in goalkeeper Fu Bin from Jilin Hyundai, and gave significant roles to young talents such as Yang Chen, Zhou Ning, and Deng Lejun. Additionally, veterans Xie Feng, Gao Feng, and Cao Xiandong were reaching their peak, allowing for a smooth transition between old and new players in the team. Moreover, Jin Zhiyang instilled the ethos of "Beijing Guoan must always strive to be first (???)" and, inspired by then-Shanghai Shenhua coach Xu Genbao's pressing tactics, he formulated the tactical guideline of quick pressing tailored to Beijing football ideologies. These changes profoundly impacted the team, making Guoan a noteworthy team in the Jia-A League that year.

Despite thorough preseason preparations and stable performance in the first half of the league, lack of experience hindered Guoan's progress. On 3 September 1995, during the 11th round of the Jia-A League, Beijing Guoan played away against Guangdong (Which team?). The match's referee, Wei Jihong, made several controversial decisions, issuing seven yellow cards and two red cards to Guoan, sending off Xie Feng and Cao Xiandong. Affected by these decisions, Guoan's players lost their composure and were defeated 0-3, surrendering their top position in the league standings. With numerous red and yellow cards, Guoan then drew 1-1 at home against Jinan Taishan while missing several key players due to suspensions. In a crucial match for the championship, a coordination error between Fu Bin and Han Xu led to a 0-1 loss to Shanghai Shenhua, earning only one point from three matches and essentially losing their title chances.

However, the team did not give up. Under Jin Zhiyang's distinct coaching style, Beijing Guoan remained in the top group, maintaining pressure on the league leaders. In the 21st matchday, Guoan's away match against Qingdao Hainiu ended in a 0-0 draw, eliminating their championship hopes and ending their first title challenge. Nonetheless, on 17 November 1995, needing a win against visiting Guangdong Winnerway to secure the runner-up position, the team achieved a 3-1 victory, marking it the club's best result in the professional league up to that point.

It's worth noting that in the summer of 1995, Beijing Guoan achieved remarkable results in four commercial matches at the Workers' Stadium. They defeated Arsenal 2-1, drew 1-1 with AC Milan, drew 1-1 with South Korea's Hyundai Tigers, and won 3-2 against Brazil's Flamengo. These results led to the famous "Workers' Stadium undefeated (???)" reputation and sparked a trend of commercial matches in China.

1996

After the excitement of 1995, Guoan increased its investment in the team for the 1996 season. At the beginning of the year, the club recalled Wei Kexing, who had been playing in Japan, and added Shen Xiangfu to the coaching staff. Additionally, they signed midfielder Wang Tao from the Bayi Team (???) for a then-record domestic transfer fee of 660,000 RMB. With players like Cao Xiandong, Hu Jianping, Xie Feng, Gao Feng, and Gao Hongbo, Guoan boasted what was considered the most formidable attacking lineup in the country and was widely regarded by the media as a favorite to win the title. The club also decided to move from Xiannongtan Stadium in southern Beijing to the Workers' Stadium near the East Second Ring Road, doubling the number of spectators it could accommodate. In terms of player departures, Jiang Bin became the first player to leave Guoan, joining the Bayi Team for 550,000 RMB.

In the second matchday of the league, Guoan played its first league match at the Workers' Stadium against Yanbian Hyundai Motors(???), drawing 2-2 with goals from Cao Xiandong and Deng Lejun. This match marked Guoan's first league game at the Workers' Stadium, with Cao Xiandong scoring the first league goal there. Despite the new additions, the team’s performance in the 1996 Jia-A League was disappointing due to improved strategies from other teams against Guoan and persistent defensive weaknesses. After an away loss to league leader Dalian Wanda in the first half of the season, Beijing fans even chanted "Defend Beijing." (???) Additionally, home game results significantly declined compared to 1995, and Guoan finished the 1996 season in fourth place.

However, in the FA Cup, Guoan showed a different side. They defeated teams like Sichuan Quanxing and Dalian Wanda to reach the final. Unlike other years, the 1996 FA Cup final was not a two-legged home-and-away affair nor a single match at a neutral venue; the host was determined by a draw, which Guoan won. On 3 November, in front of tens of thousands of fans at the Workers' Stadium, Guoan defeated Jinan Taishan 4-1 with goals from Gao Feng, Gao Hongbo, and Deng Lejun, winning their first FA Cup and the first national championship in the club’s professional history.

1996 also saw Guoan's first foreign player. Midway through the season, the club signed Brazilian forward Lindeno (???). However, he did not have a positive impact on the team, and in the few matches he played, he did not perform well. He only drew a penalty in a home match against the Bayi Team and left at the end of the season without scoring any goals.

Despite winning the cup and maintaining a relatively stable league performance, the 1996 season saw an increase in negative news surrounding the team, which had a certain impact on Guoan's future development.

1997

Following a decision by the Beijing Sports Bureau and CITIC Guoan Corporation, approved by the Beijing municipal government and CITIC Corporation, the club officially severed its ties with the Beijing Sports Bureau in February 1997 and became part of CITIC Guoan. This move marked the completion of the professionalization of the Beijing football team.

The fourth-place finish in the previous season was clearly unsatisfactory for a club with the motto "to be No.1." At the beginning of the year, foreign player Ingana (???) joined the team, along with the later well-known Paraguayan international Campos (???). In terms of domestic player transfers, Jin Zhiyang finally secured national player Li Hongjun, a left-back who had played for Yanbian Hyundai, and goalkeeper Yao Jian returned to the team after being loaned to the Bayi Team. As the team continued to expand its roster, some players left: Gao Hongbo transferred to Guangzhou Matsunichi for 1.2 million RMB, and Gao Feng transferred to Qianwei Huandao for around 1 million RMB.

In a home match against the Bayi Team, Ingana (???) scored, becoming the first foreign player to score for Guoan. However, due to his playing style not fitting well with the team, he was dismissed after an away match against Guangzhou Apollo (???). Subsequently, the team signed two more foreign players who, along with Campos, became known as the "Three Foreign Musketeers": Paraguayan player Casiano and Spanish player Andres.

On 20 July 1997, Beijing Guoan hosted Shanghai Shenhua, and the three foreign players played together for the first time. Having just suffered a 1-5 defeat to Dalian Wanda, setting a club record for most goals conceded in a league match, Beijing Guoan defeated Shanghai Shenhua 9-1. The "Three Foreign Musketeers" scored eight goals, with Andres and Casiano each scoring a hat-trick. This match remains the highest-scoring and most lopsided victory in the history of China's top professional football league.

In the next three matches, Guoan achieved 2 wins and 1 draw, scoring 8 goals and conceding 3. However, due to the Chinese national team's participation in the 1998 World Cup qualifiers, the league was paused for three months, interrupting Guoan's momentum. After the league resumed, Guoan played a 0-0 draw in heavy snow against Jinan Taishan, losing their chance to compete for the league title. The team’s form fluctuated, drawing against relegation-threatened Tianjin Samsung and Guangzhou Apollo. They lost to Shanghai Shenhua in the penultimate round of the league. Beijing Guoan finished third that season. However, Campos's outstanding performance earned him the title of China Footballer of the Year, making him the first foreign player to receive this honor.

Like in 1996, Guoan succeeded in the FA Cup, advancing to the final. Once again, they won the draw to host the match. On December 28, 1997, before over 60,000 home fans, Guoan overcame an early own goal by Deng Lejun to defeat Shanghai Shenhua 2-1 with goals from Casiano and Nan Fang, winning their second consecutive FA Cup. They became the first team to defend the FA Cup title in the professional era of Chinese football.

On the international front, Guoan also performed admirably. On December 3, 1997, in the Asian Cup Winners' Cup, Beijing Guoan defeated Japan's Kawasaki Frontale 2-0 away. A week later, they won 1-0 at home, advancing to the next year's finals with a record of 18 goals scored and none conceded in a total of six continental matches.

Despite an average season overall, consistently finishing in the top ranks of the Jia-A League for three consecutive years and winning the FA Cup twice in three years solidified Beijing Guoan's status as a top team in China's premier football league.

1998

1998 saw Guoan make significant adjustments to the team. First, after the 1997 season, Guoan signed Paraguayan youngster Román for $1.2 million through a permanent transfer, making it the first Chinese football club to achieve a permanent transfer of a foreign player. Second, Jin Zhiyang left Beijing Guoan to become an assistant coach for the Chinese national team. Shen Xiangfu became Guoan's new head coach. Third, following the departure of "the two Gaos" (Gao Hongbo and Gao Feng) in the previous season, more players left or retired, including Yang Chen, who transferred to German Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt and became their top scorer for the 1998-1999 season. Zhou Ning was also loaned to Mannheim in the second half of the year. Additionally, players such as Xie Feng, Cao Xiandong, Deng Lejun, and Wang Tao (senior) were sold, leading to a significant loss to Guoan's offense.

On 12 March 1998, the shorthanded Guoan faced their most important match at the beginning of the season, competing against the reigning league champions Dalian Wanda in the Super Cup. The match ended 1-1 after 90 minutes, with Cassiano receiving a red card for an altercation. In extra time, Zhou Ning assisted Andrés in scoring the first golden goal in Chinese football history, leading to a 2-1 victory and a major upset.

In the Asian Cup Winners' Cup, Beijing Guoan participated in the final stage held in April. Due to the team's lacking strength, long travels, and the red carding of Román, Guoan lost 0-5 to South Korea's Suwon Samsung Bluewings in the first match in the biggest defeat since the team's founding. However, in subsequent matches, Beijing Guoan defeated Turkmenistan's Köpetdag Aşgabat 4-1, eventually securing third place in the Asian Cup Winners' Cup, the club's best result in international competition to date.

When CITIC Guoan Company took over the team in 1992 to establish Guoan, they only absorbed the Beijing Football Team (senior team) and did not integrate the Beijing Youth Team, which formed the Beijing Vickery Football Club to compete in the second division. Now that Guoan lacked youth players, the club, under the intervention of the Beijing Municipal Government, spent 12 million RMB to acquire Beijing Vickery. Guoan integrated several key players from Vickery, including Xu Yunlong, Yang Pu, Shao Jiayi, Xue Shen, Tian Ye, and Tao Wei into their first team. This move alleviated Guoan's first-team personnel crisis.

After resolving the personnel issues mid-season, Guoan finally got back on track, but the new players needed time to integrate with the team, resulting in no major breakthroughs. Due to the sharp reduction in midfield strength, the three foreign players could not receive effective support, and Beijing Guoan scored only 32 goals in 26 league matches throughout 1998. Relying on solid defense, Beijing Guoan secured third place in the league for the 1998 season. Additionally, it is noteworthy that Guoan player Gamboa represented the Paraguayan national team in the 1998 World Cup in France, making Guoan the first Chinese football club to have a player participate in the World Cup finals.

2010

Not sure

2011

Not sure

2012

Not sure

2013

Not sure (somewhere here there was a Guangzhou Evergrande 6-3 Beijing Guoan match)

2014

• Shao Jiayi keeping CSL title hopes alive on round 29 v Guangzhou Evergrande with a free kick, win secures title, but drew v Henan Jianye on final matchday
• Manzano and Dejan Damjanovic also come.

2015

• Dejan hat trick v Changchun Yatai
• Eliminated in ACL by Jeonbuk Hyundai
• Hong Yuanshuo death
• Tianjin port explosion, Beijing Guoan went and helped. 25 October there was a nice gesture from Tianjin fans with a banner. Got battered that game though
• Kleber comes but he was kinda bad
• Knocked out in the cup in Beijing derby
• Sending Shenxin down with a 4-0 away win (not necessarily important to Guoan I guess)

2016

• Zaccharoni takes over but gets sacked early on. Xie Feng conmes and plays (and develops) Ba Dun (U23 player policy).
• Renato Augusto and Ralf come.
• Remember Du Mingyang?
• Sponsored team name LeTV
• Burak Yilmaz comes
• Retires number 12 shirt somewhere here

2017

• Long-time captail Xu Yunlong retires after 501 games ahead of the 2017 season.
• Roger Schmidt comes and first game beating Evergrande 2-0 at Workers'
• Unbeaten streak followed
• Sinobo Group takeover and change name\
• Burak Yilmaz what a player. Got fined and suspended though. So did Zhang Xizhe for slapping Chongqing player's face or maybe that was the year before. He got sent off twice v Chongqing from what I can remember

2018

• Chinese FA Cup winners (a lot of this FA Cup run i worth mentioning, pens v SIPG, TFBoys concert at Workers ahead of R&F game etc)
• Yu Dabao converted to CB
• Bakambu comes
• First Beijing derby in the top flight, got battered in August

2019

• Kim, Wang Gang, and Li Ke + Hou Yongyong transfers
• 10 straight wins from the start, held on to first for a long time
• fell off because Viera got injured --> Fernando getting loaned in
  • Bitter lost of the title by 2 points...
• That Wang Ziming goal in the final minutes of the season v Shandong

2020

• COVID
• Li Lei scores v Chongqing on first matchday
• Kim leaves some time here
• Only ACL first round game that didn't get cancelled because of COVID. Guoan away at Chiangrai Wang Ziming goal chest sponsor was 武汉加油
• Good ACL performance, knocked out by eventual winners Ulsan
• Rebuild for Workers'
• Youth team beats Chengdu Better City
• Bakambu hat trick v Chongqing

2021

• Anderson Oliveira Silva
• Slaven Bilic
• Viera Bakambu and Augusto leave
• Lucas Souza
• Sinobo buying 100% of stake at the club, name change
• ACL, sending youth team to Uzbekistan. Liang Shaowen scores v United City
• Heaviest league defeat to Guangzhou City

2022

• Weird season tbh. Stanley Menzo and Marko Dabro and Memisevic
• Playing in Rizhao
• Knocked out by Jingchuan Wenhui

2023

• Post COVID, back at Workers'
• nothing major really
• Nebijan goal at Chengdu Rongcheng
• Wang Ziming hat trick v Shenzhen
• 2-1 win v Shenhua, 11 straight wins v Shenhua at Workers'

2024

I mean

Draft

To some extent the Chinese Wikipdeia offers a more updated version of a write-up but it's mostly on player changes which I don't feel that strongly about them being the most notable events, over managerial changes and league/continental performances etc. If plausible we can use their references

2010–2016: Challenging for the title

2016 was a transitional year for Guoan. Le.com became the club's main sponsor ahead of the season, but the arrangement lasted only 10 months due to contractual disputes. Italian manager Alberto Zaccheroni was brought in as the coach along with new, younger players including Brazilian international Renato Augusto and Turkish international Burak Yılmaz to replace the outgoing Darko Matić, Dejan Damjanović and Pablo Batalla. However, Zaccheroni was dismissed after winning only 3 of his 10 games in charge. Xie Feng took over until the end of the season and ultimately guided the team to a 5th place finish. Club legend Xu Yunlong and long-term player Zhou Ting both bid farewell to Guoan at the end of the season.

2017–2019: Cup success under the Sinobo Group

After Jack Ma's failed attempt to purchase the club, in January 2017, Chinese real estate company Sinobo Group bought 64% of the stake of Beijing Guoan from the CITIC Group for over ¥3 billion, and rebranded the club as Beijing Sinobo Guoan (Chinese: 北京中赫国安). Signing Jonathan Soriano in the winter and starting the 2017 season under José González, the club suffered first a 4–1 defeat to Hebei China Fortune, then a 5–1 defeat to Shanghai SIPG, both in the month of May. González was sacked after a loss at Chongqing Dangdai Lifan, and was replaced by Xie Feng. On 1 July 2017, the club appointed Roger Schmidt as manager, whose first match in charge brought a 2–0 victory against defending champions Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao. Striker Yılmaz left the club for Trabzonspor before in the summer transfer window, amid family issues and a five-match suspension. Four straight wins after Schmidt's appointment took Guoan as high as fourth place. But a poor run of form in the final run-in saw Guoan finish ninth in the league, its worst finish in the Super League era to date.

Ahead of the 2018 season, the club signed Cédric Bakambu from Villarreal for £65 million and Jonathan Viera from Las Palmas for €11 million, with Chinese internationals Chi Zhongguo and Wei Shihao also joining the club. After losing 3–0 the league opener to Shandong Luneng Taishan, the club went on a seventeen-game unbeaten run and were top of the league after two-thirds of the season. However, five losses and two draws in the final third of the league saw Guoan slip to fourth at the league's conclusion. Guoan had more success in the Chinese FA Cup; thanks to Viera's free-kick in the 94th minute in the quarter-final second leg, Guoan advanced to the semi-finals on penalties and swept aside Guangzhou R&F over a two-legged affair. In the final, Guoan drew with Shandong 1–1 at home and 2–2 away in the final and were crowned the CFA Cup champions throuogh away-goals, lifting their fourth CFA Cup title and first trophy in nine years.

The 2018 Chinese FA Cup win qualified Guoan for the 2019 AFC Champions League after a three-year absence from continental competition. Guoan signed Kim Min-jae, Zhang Yuning, Wang Gang, and the naturalised Nico Yennaris in pre-season. The new signings, coupled with Schmidt's management, saw Guoan start its 2019 league campaign with ten consecutive wins, which is as of 2024, the best ever start to a Chinese Super League season. However, Guoan booked an early exit to the AFC Champions League after an away defeat to Urawa Red Diamonds in May. Beijing Guoan remained top of the league table until eighteen games into the season, but a Viera injury significantly weakened Guoan's performances and the club was knocked out in the CFA Cup. The losses led to the replacement of Schmidt with Bruno Génésio at the end of July. The replacement for Viera, Brazilian midfielder Fernando, struggled to establish himself in the squad. Guoan finished second in the league, two points behind champions Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao.

2020–present: COVID-19 and recovery

Ahead of the 2020 season, long-time goalkeeper Yang Zhi announced his retirement following injuries. Guoan's home ground, the Workers' Stadium, was demolished in 2020 for a complete rebuild. Guoan's season commenced in February with a 1–0 win over Chiangrai United in the 2020 AFC Champions League group stage. However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the league until July. In a modified competition format, Guoan finished second in group B, qualifying for the championship stage. After defeating Shandong Luneng Taishan on aggregate in the quarter-final, Beijing Sinobo Guoan were eliminated from championship contention by Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao, in a two-legged semi-fimal. Guoan finished the league campaign in third place, after a victorious two-legged third place final over Shanghai SIPG. Returning to AFC Champions League action in November, Beijing topped their respective group, setting up a tie with FC Tokyo. Despite a narrow win over FC Tokyo in the round of 16 followed by a 2–0 defeat to eventual winners Ulsan Hyundai in the quarter-finals, Beijing recorded their best ever international performance as of 2024, being a quarter-finalist. While the first-team were in Qatar competing in the AFC Champions League, an U21 team led by Stanley Menzo took on China League One side Changdu Better City in the CFA Cup. After a shock result that saw the club progress, Guoan were knocked out of the competition by CSL opposition Wuhan Zall.

Guoan started the 2021 season under Slaven Bilić after deciding not to renew Génésio's contract. During the course of the season, CITIC Group's remaining ownership stake in the club were transferred to Sinobo Group and allowing Guoan to keep its name per Chinese FA's rules against commercializing club names. Tough COVID border restrictions saw the delayed return and eventual departure of foreign players Kim Min-jae, Viera, Bakambu, Augusto, and Fernando. Gao Tianyi, Lucas Souza, and Anderson Silva were brought in as replacements but the latter two players spent only a few months at the club before moving on. The team concluded the tournament-format league campaign that saw all games played behind closed doors with 9 wins, 6 draws and 7 losses, finishing 5th. With 10 goals scored in the league, Zhang Yuning finished the season as the joint top Chinese goalscorer. Guoan was eliminated in the first round of the FA Cup by China League One club Sichuan Jiuniu on penalties. While Guoan competed in the AFC Champions League, its overlapping schedule with the CSL and the Chinese government's mandatory 14-day quarantine after returning from a foreign country meant Guoan's team consisted mostly of reserve squad players with an average age of 20.9 years. Guoan failed to qualify from the group, recording 5 losses and 1 draw and the club's largest loss in a 0–7 defeat against Kawasaki Frontale.

Bilić departed ahead of the 2022 season and Xie Feng was appointed as the replacement. Zhang Chengdong returned to the club and Kang Sang-woo along with Samuel Adegbenro were brought in via transfer. Samir Memišević was loaned in and deputized at central defense often during the season. Although the league returned to home and away game format, Guoan was forced to play its home games in Rizhao, Shandong due to Beijing's strict COVID restriction policies. After a tough start to the season that saw Guoan drop to 12th place after 12 matchdays on the heels of three consecutive losses, and Xie Feng resigned his position. Dutch manager and former reserve team coach Stanley Menzo was appointed as the replacement manager after a short caretaking spell by Sui Dongliang. Guoan finished the league in 7th place out of 18 teams and was eliminated in the FA Cup by forth-tier club Jingchuan Wenhui on penalties.

As pandemic measures loosened in China towards the end of 2022, Beijing Guoan were permitted to play in the city of Beijing once more. In the opening league match of the 2023 league campaign at the rebuilt Workers' Stadium, Beijing Guoan only managed a 1–1 draw with Meizhou Hakka. On 11 June 2023, Stanley Menzo departed from the club after a struggling spell as manager, and Portuguese manager Ricardo Soares came in on 15 June. Soares brought in Angolan striker Fábio Abreu from Emirati club Khor Fakkan, who scored a double, turning around rivals Shanghai Shenhua 2–1, extending a winning streak of winning at the Workers' Stadium to eleven matches. Beijing Guoan finished the season in sixth place, missing out on continental football three seasons in a row.