Guangzhou City F.C.

Guangzhou City Football Club was a Chinese professional football club which last competed in the Chinese Super League. The team was based in Guangzhou, Guangdong. The club's name between 2011 and 2020 was Guangzhou R&F, which was short for rich (富) and force (力). The club changed its name to Guangzhou City in December 2020. The club was founded in 2011 in Guangzhou. They played at the 55,000-seat Wulihe Stadium, until they moved to Changsha, Hunan in 2007 to reside at the Helong Stadium. American sportswear and sports equipment company MAZAMBA took over the club in 2010, and relocated the club to Shenzhen, Guangdong in February 2011. Their ownership was brief, and by June 2011 Chinese property developers Guangzhou R&F gained ownership of the club and moved them to Guangzhou. The club had their most successful season in 2014 as they finished third in the league and qualified for the 2015 AFC Champions League. Guangzhou City was dissolved in March 2023. History History before moving to Guangzhou The club was founded in 1986 by the local Shenyang government sports body to take part in the Chinese football league system, and was named Shenyang. The team started at the bottom of the league system by playing in the second division. They were promoted to the 1988 Chinese Jia-A League quickly after the league expanded and Liaoning FC was ineligible to field their reserve team in the same division. The club was relegated after only one season. With the following campaigns the club mostly remained within the second tier, except for a short foray in the 1992 Chinese Jia-A League campaign; however, they were again relegated after only one season.