July 4 – Chinese Super League champions Guangzhou Evergrande, on a training visit to Europe, have joined Austria’s FK Austria Wien who are currently in pre-season preparations at their new Generali Arena.
Guangzhou Evergrande, who have been the Chinese Super League’s champion club for the last seven seasons and won the AFC Champions League in 2015, are coached by Italian legend Fabio Cannavaro.
Cannavaro visited the stadium last weekend as a guest of Austria Wien CEO Markus Kraetschmer and asked if he could bring his squad to train with the Austrians.
“In the course of our activities around the topic of internationalization, the visit of the Chinese series champion is an opportunity to present ourselves as a great host and interested partner and to prove once more that our motto ‘Violet is more!’ is also lived spontaneously and flexibly,” said Kraetschmer.
Austria Wien finished last season in seventh position in the Austrian Bundesliga but have a history that has seen them win the title 21 times. The club has a strong youth development programme.
Guangzhou Evergrande has a squad that, bar four international players, is made up of China qualified players. Underpinning this is the world’s largest football school which has about 2,500 youth players training on 300 hectares of land on 54 football pitches.
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