Nov 6 2015, 10:48 am | Posted by Jasmin Sasin

Guangzhou Evergrande Became First Football Club to be Listed in China and Asia

Five time Chinese Super League winner Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club took a major step last Friday as the listed its shares on the New Third Board. The green light came from the National Equities Exchange and Quotations that approved the listing is expected to prop up the fortunes of the ailing soccer club. The Guangzhou based football club became the first listed soccer club in Asia and China with its Brazilian World Cup winning head coach Luiz Felipe.

The listing hopefully helps boost the sales and build a solid foundation for the development of young Chinese players. The club issued around 375 million shares in the New Third Board at 1 yuan a share. The New Third Board established in 2012 attracted about 2,500 firms and 77 percent of these firms are in technology and innovative businesses. Even with the stellar record of the football club since its promotion to the top tier of Chinese soccer in 2010, the club is still losing money over the years due to large investments in international players and coaches. According to the club the investment help build the professional club with international practices and will continue to invest in the years ahead.

The football club registered a loss of 576 million yuan in 2013, then 483 million yuan in 2014 and for the first five months of 2015 declared a loss of 265 million yuan. after being listed the club will be strengthening its cooperation with Spanish La Liga giant Real Madrid for brand building and commercial activities in boosting sales and hopes to start making profits in 2016 as the club is all out in making efforts in developing a all Chinese player squad in the next six years.

The club with be jointly owned by Evergrande Real Estate Group and e-commerce Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Evergrande will own 60 percent while Alibaba will own the remaining balance. Evergrande’s listing in the stock market will bring in more investments in the Soccer industry and by having more investments will boost soccer in China.