This year, the domestic professional league will see eight teams from Guangdong Province on the field. These eight teams are Meizhou Hakka, Shenzhen New Pengcheng, Foshan Nan Shi, Guangdong Guangzhou Leopard, Shenzhen Youth, Guangdong Mingtu, Guangzhou Dandelion, and Shenzhen 2028. Although Guangzhou Evergrande, which once dominated the football scene in Guangdong, is no longer as glorious as it used to be, Guangdong football as a whole still firmly occupies an important place in Chinese football.
The Guangzhou team, which once dominated the Chinese Super League, is now facing the crisis of dissolution due to failing to pass the entry review. This team has won the AFC Champions League twice and the Chinese Super League championship trophy eight times, making it a veritable top club. However, its fate remains uncertain. However, given the current situation, Guangzhou team is not completely hopeless and there is still a possibility of regaining life. They have pinned all their last hope on Guangzhou Dandelion Club.
The origin of Guangzhou Dandelion can be traced back to Guangzhou Anhua. Its establishment process is as follows: after the dissolution of Guangzhou City (formerly known as Guangzhou R&F), investor Pan Weisi acquired the related youth teams, thus Guangzhou Dandelion was born. It started its journey from amateur leagues and then worked hard step by step to achieve promotion, successfully entering the China League Two in the 2025 season. When it was confirmed that they could be promoted to League Two, Dandelion also considered acquiring high-quality assets from Guangzhou Club, but at that time, Guangzhou team still had the possibility of passing the entry review, so this acquisition plan did not materialize.
Currently, Guangzhou team has failed to pass the entry review and is in a difficult situation on the verge of dissolution, which greatly increases the likelihood of being acquired by Guangzhou Dandelion. If both sides can really reach a merger agreement, Guangzhou team will hopefully achieve rebirth through a shell company, and for Guangzhou Dandelion, this is undoubtedly a rare opportunity. Overall, this move is beneficial to both Guangzhou team and Guangzhou Dandelion with few disadvantages.
Although such an operation is quite challenging, it is not impossible. The key lies in whether Guangzhou Club can completely sever its ties with Evergrande. Initially, Evergrande insisted on not letting go of the club, making it difficult to promote the shareholding reform, but judging from the current situation, Evergrande's attitude has shown some easing.
At present, the possibility of cooperation between Guangzhou Dandelion and Guangzhou team has once again appeared before the public. If such cooperation can really be achieved, it means that the excellent players from Evergrande Football School will have the opportunity to join Guangzhou Dandelion collectively, thereby contributing to the team's efforts to challenge higher-level leagues, which is what many fans are looking forward to.
Previously, fans in Guangdong proposed an idea to let Evergrande Football School reorganize a team to participate in the China League. However, this plan has some problems, that is, it may need to bear the huge debt of Guangzhou team up to 8 billion yuan, in this way, it may fail to pass the entry review. In comparison, if the players from Evergrande Football School join Guangzhou Dandelion together to participate in the China League Two, they may be able to completely get rid of the troubles caused by Evergrande's debt.
In terms of actual operation, it can be regarded as Guangzhou Dandelion bringing in a group of excellent players from Evergrande Football School as a whole, and the club itself is still the main body of independent operation. In this way, there is no direct connection between Guangzhou Dandelion and the original Guangzhou Evergrande, and it can also attract the support of Guangzhou team's fans.
Although there is already a China League One team, Guangzhou Leopard, in Guangzhou, there are still some Guangzhou fans who only recognize the original Guangzhou team. Therefore, if Guangzhou Dandelion can integrate with the high-quality assets of Guangzhou team, it will eventually achieve a win-win situation for all parties.
If Guangzhou Dandelion finally successfully acquires the high-quality resources of Guangzhou team, then in the 2025 season, a brand-new Guangzhou team will reappear in Chinese football. Moreover, everyone is also looking forward to the young players from Evergrande Football School seizing the opportunity to help Guangzhou Dandelion successfully challenge the League One in the upcoming season and return to the Chinese Super League as soon as possible to show their past glory again!