4) Shanghai Greenland Shenhua
The original movers and shakers in the Chinese football ecosystem. They came to the limelight in 2012, when two former Chelsea superstars in Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba, in the twilight of their careers, signed up for Shanghai Shenhua.
But all was not well as they left after just one season amid reports that they were not paid the astronomical salaries promised to them. The club was also the first team in Chinese football history to appoint a foreign CEO and a technical director.
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Zhu Jun and his company The9 Limited bankrolled the club till February 2014 when Chinese property developer Greenland Holding Group Company Limited took over the reins of the club and changed the name of the club to reflect its ownership.
The club is managed by Spanish Gregorio Manzano who has previous experience with European clubs such as Sevilla and Atlético Madrid. The current line-up of international stars at the club include Fredy Guarín, Giovanni Moreno (Colombia), Obafemi Martins (Nigeria) and Demba Ba (Senegal).
The club has been underachieving of late with no top-5 finishes in the last 5 years in the Chinese Super League. It is currently far off the pace as well at 8th position in the 2016 edition of the CSL.
The club plays their home games at the Hongkou Football Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 33,060. Shenhua also participates in what is known as the China Derby against fierce rivals Beijing Guoan F.C.
