Beijing Guoan F.C is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in the Chaoyang District in Beijing and their home stadium is the Workers Stadium that has a seating capacity of 66,161. Their majority shareholder is the CITIC Group a state-owned investment company of the People's Republic of China.
The club's predecessor was called Beijing Football Club and they predominantly played in the top tier, where they won several domestic league and cup titles. In December 31, 1992 the club was reorganized to become a completely professional football club making them one of the founding members of the first fully professional top tier league in China. Since then they have gone on to win their first ever league title in the 2009 league season as well as the 1996, 1997 and 2003 Chinese FA Cup.
Beijing Guoan was formed on December 31, 1992, as a result of the Chinese football reform, which was the Chinese Football Association looking to professionalize the whole of the Chinese football league. The club was set up by the CITIC Group a state-owned investment company of the People's Republic of China and the Beijing Municipal Sports Committee. The club would take part take part in the 1994 Chinese Jia-A League season, making them a founding member of the first fully professional top tier league in China and changed their home colors to green to symbolize the change. In their first professional season Beijing finished in a disappointing eighth out of twelve teams and the manager Tang Pengju was relieved of his duties. The club would bring in Jin Zhiyang to manage them the following season and results under his reign improved enough for them to finish the 1995 campaign in the runners-up position. The following season Jin Zhiyang lead Beijing to their first professional trophy when he beat Jinan Taishan Jiangjun 4-1 to lift the 1996 Chinese FA Cup. Jin Zhiyang was able to retain the Cup the following year with a 2-1 victory against Shanghai Shenhua, which impressed the Chinese FA who lured him away from Beijing when they offered him a position with the Chinese national team. The assistant coach Shen Xiangfu stepped into the managerial role and in his debut season he guided the club to third within the league, however in his second season the team slid down to sixth and he left the club.
By the 2009 league season the club had returned to the Workers Stadium after it had been renovation for the 2008 Summer Olympics and under Head coach Lee Jang-soo's helm it looked as if the club would be winning its first professional league title until a 2-0 defeat from Changchun Yatai on September 15, 2009 saw the club slip to third and Lee Jang-soo was unscrupulously fired with seven games remaining. Former Beijing player Hong Yuanshuo was immediately brought into the team and on the final day of the season Beijing thrashed Hangzhou Greentown F.C. 4-0 to clinch the 2009 league championship.
On July 20, 1997 in a vital league game, Guoan thrashed Shenhua 9-1 at the Workers Stadium in Beijing. It would be Guoan's largest victory and Shenhua's greatest defeat ever recorded. Soon after that event both teams would meet again in the 1997 FA Cup final, which saw Guoan win the cup.
Guoan are always vying for first place! And never give up for this dream!
