The club was founded on January 14, 1998 as Zhejiang Green Town F.C., making their debut in the third tier of China's football league pyramid in the 1999 league season. On November 23, 2000, the club bought the playing right for Chinese Football Association Jia League as well as 32 players from first team of Jilin Aodong for 25 million Yuan. They have subsequently won promotion to the top tier after finishing runners-up in the 2006 league season and the highest position they have ever finished is third in the 2022, 2023 Chinese Super League seasons.
History
Zhejiang Green Town Football Club Co., Ltd. was officially established on January 14, 1998, with a capital of 16,000,000 Yuan and Zeng Leming was appointed as their general manager. Greentown Real Estate Company, Hangzhou Qiantang Real Estate Company, Zhejiang University and Zhejiang Provincial Football Association all participated in the creation as well as the registration of the club.[1] The company would go on to form a youth team before finally creating a senior team on January 22, 1999, to take part in the third tier with Bao Yingfu as their first head coach. They wouldn't wait long to show their ambition when they would make the play-offs in 2000 before losing to Tianjin Lifei.[2] Still determined to win promotion the club decided to buy the playing right for Chinese Football Association Jia League as well as 32 players from first team of Yanbian F.C.(Then Jilin Aodong) on November 23, 2000, for 25,000,000 Yuan, in time for the beginning of the 2001 league season. Under the new general manager Shen Qiang the club brought in new sponsors and Gu Mingchang as the new head coach, however during this period the club couldn't win promotion to the top tier and the chairman Song Weiping expressed his disappointment of the team. Song Weiping would soon discover that the reason for his club's disappointing results when it was discovered that several of his players and coaches were taking bribes, with a 6–0 defeat against Changchun Yatai in the 2001 league season being highlighted, which saw the offending participants banned for a year while the club had three months to reform and re-apply for a CFA playing license.[3] This would see the club would go through several management changes as well as a significant ownership shift, which saw Song Weiping's company Greentown China Holdings Limited take a 96% share of the team for 20,000,000 Yuan in 2005 while Zhejiang University held on to 4%.[1]
As Hangzhou Greentown
In 2009, The club renamed itself to Hangzhou Greentown Football Club.
Under Wang Zheng as their head coach the team would start to generally push for promotion, eventually achieving it at the end of the 2006 league season when they came second in the division.[4] The club often found themselves fighting off relegation and would bring in several managers to alleviate the problem, however this wasn't enough during the 2009 league season and the club found themselves in the relegation zone at the end of the season. Surprisingly the club were allowed to stay within the 2010 CFA Super League after it was discovered that Chengdu Blades and Guangzhou GPC were guilty of match-fixing.[5]
AFC Champions League debut
After gaining a reprieve from relegation the club went on a spending spree by signing several established Chinese internationals such as Du Wei, Li Yan and Wang Song.[6] The signings seemed to work and the club's results significantly improved throughout the 2010 league campaign, which saw the club achieve their best ever finish of fourth and a chance to play within the 2011 AFC Champions League for the first time.[7]
This club is known for its outstanding football academy and youth training facilities. However, they were relegated to the 2017 China League One after getting second-to-last place in the 2016 Chinese Super League because of their bad performances for the season with only 8 wins in 30 games.[8]
Aimed to take the crown in the football competition of 2017 National Games of China, Hangzhou Greentown adopted a risky youngster-first policy which was more radical than ever. But good wishes were all vain. In 2017, the team struggled near the relegation zone in their first season of China League while the youngsters who formed the Team Zhejiang watched the championship slip away in the final. Young trainer Xu Lei filled in manager Hong Myung-bo's shoes and the team finally ranked 9th in the league. Meanwhile, former player and veteran Jiao Fengbo also returned as the new general manager.
As Zhejiang Greentown
On 14 January 2018, the club changed their name to Zhejiang Greentown F.C. for the 20th anniversary of the club.[9] The same season they reached third place in the China League, one place away from returning to the CFA Super League.
As Zhejiang Energy Greentown
In September 2020, the team changed their name to Zhejiang Energy Greentown F.C., as Zhejiang Energy Group stepped in as one of the major share holders, while Song Weiping officially quit the club.[10]
As Zhejiang Professional
On 26 February 2021, According to the requirements of non-corporate change of club name by the Chinese Football Association, after several rounds of discussion and reported to the relevant provincial departments and the Chinese Football Association for review and approval, the club's name changed to Zhejiang Professional Football Club.[11]
Return to the AFC Champions League
Zhejiang finished third in the 2022 Chinese Super League season, which is their highest position they have ever finished in the top tier of the Chinese league saw them qualified for the 2023–24 AFC Champions League group stage after 12 years.
Name history
Period
Club Name
First Team Name
1998–2001
Zhejiang Green Town FC
浙江绿城
Zhejiang Green Town
浙江绿城
2001–04
Zhejiang Sanhua Green Town (Sponsor Name)
浙江三花绿城
2004–09
Zhejiang Babei Green Town (Sponsor Name)
浙江巴贝绿城
2009–10
Hangzhou Greentown FC
杭州绿城
Hangzhou Greentown
杭州绿城
2010–12
Hangzhou Nabel Greentown (Sponsor Name)
杭州诺贝尔绿城
2012–13
Hangzhou 9Top Greentown (Sponsor Name)
杭州九好绿城
2013–14
Hangzhou Daikin Greentown (Sponsor Name)
杭州大金绿城
2014–18
Hangzhou Greentown
杭州绿城
2018–20
Zhejiang Greentown FC
浙江绿城
Zhejiang Greentown
浙江绿城
2020–21
Zhejiang Energy Greentown FC
浙江能源绿城
Zhejiang Energy Greentown
浙江能源绿城
2021–
Zhejiang Professional FC
浙江职业
Zhejiang
浙江
Crest history
Zhejiang Green Town logo used between 1998 and 2000
Zhejiang Green Town logo used between 2001 and 2002
Hangzhou Greentown logo used between 2003 and 2018
Zhejiang Greentown logo used between 2019 and 2021
On 26 July 2009, Manchester United visited the Dragon Stadium and played a friendly against Hangzhou Greentown as part of their pre-season Asian tour.[19] Manchester United won by 8 goals to 2.
On 16 July 2011, Arsenal visited the Meihu Stadium and played a friendly against Hangzhou Greentown as part of their pre-season Asian tour.[20] The game was drawn 1–1.
Zhejiang Greentown also played two friendly games at the Mini Estadi in 2017 and 2019, against FC Barcelona B with the Spanish side won 1-0 and 3-1 respectively.
Because there are not many football clubs based on Zhejiang in history, Zhejiang FC has rarely been able to have a rival in the province for a long time. In 2017, after being relegated to China League, Hangzhou Greentown briefly had a 2-seasons Zhejiang derby with Zhejiang Yiteng but only won 1 out of 4 matches. More often than not, Zhejiang FC has a stronger rivalry with other teams of the same level in the Wu Chinese region, particularly Shanghai Shenhua, and Shanghai Zhongyuan historically.
References
^ ab"绿城介绍". GreenTown Football Club Inc. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
