Guangdong South China Tiger Football Club ( zh, s=广东华南虎足球俱乐部, t=廣東華南虎足球俱樂部, p=Guǎngdōng Huánánhǔ Zúqiú Jùlèbù) or simply Guangdong South China Tiger ( zh, s=广东华南虎, t=廣東華南虎) was a professional Chinese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club that last participated in

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

. The team was based in

Meixian District Meixian District () is a district of Meizhou City, in northeastern Guangdong Province, China. The district is an important Hakka settlement and is the ancestral home of many Hakka descendants living in Taiwan and other countries worldwide. ...

Meizhou Meizhou ( zh, t=梅州, Hakka Chinese: Mòichû) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Guangdong province, China. It has an area of , and a population of 3,873,239 as of the 2020 census. It comprises Meijiang District, Meixian District, Xing ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

and their home stadium was the Meixian Tsang Hin-chi Stadium. Their majority shareholder was engineering, and construction company Shenzhen Techand Ecological Environment Co., Ltd.

History

The club was founded on 3 July 2003 as Dongguan Nancheng F.C. (Simplified Chinese: 东莞南城足球俱乐部) by the Dongguan City Sports Bureau who created them as a Phoenix club to Guangdong Hongyuan F.C. who were sold-off and moved cities in 2001. The club would then gain entry to participate within the

2003–04 Hong Kong First Division League The 2003–04 Hong Kong First Division League season was the 92nd since its establishment. League table References
{{DEFAULTSORT:2003-04 Hong Kong First Division League 2003–04 in Asian association football leagues, Hong Kong Firs ...

as a foreign team within the league. The Dongguan City Sports Bureau gained sponsorship and investment from real estate developers South City Real Estate Development Company, Guangdong Hongyuan Real Estate Development Company, Guangdong Enterprises Group Co., Ltd., China Everbright, Huang City Development Co., Ltd., Dongguan City Royal Garden residential construction Limited, Carnation New Garden Construction Co., Ltd., The new Bank of Development and Construction Co., Ltd., Dongguan Kuari Footwear Holdings Limited and Dongguan CITIC Group before participating within the league where they finished sixth. The club only spent one season within the Hong Kong league, which was mired by their on-field disciplinary issues against

Buler Rangers Hong Kong Rangers Football Club (), often abbreviated to Rangers, currently known as Biu Chun Rangers due to sponsorship reasons, is a Hong Kong professional association football, football club which currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier ...

on March 7, 2004, that saw nine players from Dongguan Nancheng and six from Buler Rangers suspended for their behaviour. After the season ended the club deciding to switch to the Chinese league system in the 2005 league season where they started within the third tier. In the campaign they topped the group stages and reached the semi-final within the play-off's where they lost 3–2 to Nancheng Bayi Hengyuan in extra time, missing out on promotion. After that disappointment the club pulled out of the league and disbanded their first team, however they still maintained their youth system after the season ended. The club rejoined the

China League Two The Chinese Football League 2 (), or China League Two, is the third-tier association football league of the People's Republic of China. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association and operated by the Chinese Professional ...

division in 2011 and made significant changes to the club, such as changing their home ground to Dongguan Nancheng Sports Park Stadium, altering their uniforms from red to yellow tops with blue shorts, building a new squad from their existing youth team, changes that saw the club reach the semi-finals of the division play-offs. The club moved to the city of

and changed their name as Meixian Hakka F.C. on 12 December 2012 making them the first professional football club in Meizhou, which the city like to proclaim as the "Homeland of football" in China due to it being where the Europeans introduced

Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

to the country as well as paying homage to the former Chinese footballer and coach

Lee Wai Tong Lee Wai Tong (; 16 October 1905 – 4 July 1979) was a Hong Kong and Chinese international association football player, head coach, and former Vice President of FIFA. He is often regarded as the greatest Chinese footballer, due to his accomplis ...

who grew up there. This was followed by a move into Meixian Tsang Hin-chi Stadium and a new Head coach in Hirokazu Sakuma. In March 2015 engineering, and construction company Shenzhen Techand Ecological Environment Co., Ltd. took over the club. Once again the club changed its name to Meizhou Meixian Hakka F.C. in January 2016. On 30 December 2016, they changed their name to Meizhou Meixian Techand F.C. so as not to be confused with local rivals Meizhou Hakka F.C. A new badge, a change in home colours to red over the previous yellow tops and blue shorts would complete their transformation of the club. In the 2017 league season under the management of Li Haiqiang the club came runners-up to Heilongjiang Lava Spring F.C. in the division and gained promotion to the second tier for the first time, which saw the players given a bonus of £2.86 million. The club deleted the owner's information from their name and changed to Guangdong South China Tiger F.C. in answer to Chinese FA's new regulation in January 2019. The club announced its dissolution in February 2020.

Name history

*2003–2012 Dongguan Nancheng F.C. 东莞南城 *2013–2015 Meixian Hakka F.C. 梅县客家 *2016 Meizhou Meixian Hakka F.C. 梅州梅县客家 *2017–2018 Meizhou Meixian Techand F.C. 梅州梅县铁汉 *2019–2020 Guangdong South China Tiger F.C. 广东华南虎

Managerial history

* Li Hu (2011) * Goran Paulic (2012) * Hirokazu Sakuma (2013) * Tomoo Tsukoshi (2014) *

Wang Hongwei Wang Hongwei (; born in Anyang, Henan) is a Chinese actor. Wang is perhaps best known for his work with director Jia Zhangke. The two men were classmates at the Beijing Film Academy when they began their professional relationship, with Wang star ...

(2015–2016) * Li Haiqiang (2017) * Juan Ignacio Martínez (2018) * Fu Bo (2018–2020)

Results

All-time league rankings ''As of the end of 2019 season.'' Dongguan Nancheng didn't compete in 2006–2010. * At

Hong Kong First Division League The Hong Kong First Division League () is the second-highest division in the Hong Kong football league system. Established in 1908, it is the List of oldest football competitions, third oldest in Asia, after Calcutta and Bombay. Moreover, it is ...

* In group stage. Key

* Pld = Played * W = Games won * D = Games drawn * L = Games lost * F = Goals for * A = Goals against * Pts = Points * Pos = Final position * DNQ = Did not qualify * DNE = Did not enter * NH = Not Held * – = Does Not Exist * R1 = Round 1 * R2 = Round 2 * R3 = Round 3 * R4 = Round 4 * F = Final * SF = Semi-finals * QF = Quarter-finals * R16 = Round of 16 * Group = Group stage * GS2 = Second Group stage * QR1 = First Qualifying Round * QR2 = Second Qualifying Round * QR3 = Third Qualifying Round

References

External links