China's Guangzhou Evergrande Winning Big On Pitch, Losing Big In Coffers

The "cost of winning has caught up" with Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC, which has revealed a "staggering" loss of 953M yuan ($147M) for the year ended '15, according to Paul Nicholson of INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL. The loss "is more than 2.5 times the club’s revenue which itself was impressive" for the region at 380M yuan last year. Guangzhou Evergrande has "blazed a trail for Chinese football." The loss was attributed to "the increased expense of introducing coaches, paying players and preparing for matches" which cost the club a total of 1.3B yuan ($200M) in '15. The losses are "clearly worrying to the club’s board" which has installed a new president -- Li Yimeng has taken over from Liu Yongzhuo -- in a "bid to improve its operations." But its shareholders "have deep pockets." Listed since March on China’s "New Third Board" -- a trading platform for shares in small and medium-sized companies -- the club is "still reportedly valued at a chunky" 3.35B yuan ($516M) (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 4/28).