Evergrande Football School

Evergrande Football School (恒大足校, formally 恒大足球学校) is a youth football academy brand created by China Evergrande Group, the property developer that also owned Guangzhou Evergrande FC (later Guangzhou FC). The school opened in 2012 in Qingyuan, Guangdong province, on a purpose-built campus with dozens of pitches, dormitories, classrooms and training facilities, and it was promoted as one of the largest residential football academies in the world. The brand's proposition is elite, full-time football education: children are recruited from across China at primary-school age, live on campus, combine national curriculum schooling with daily professional coaching, and progress through age-group teams. Evergrande positioned the school as the talent pipeline for its own professional club and, more broadly, for the Chinese national team, and it also built links with Real Madrid's foundation for coaching methodology and with overseas training and tournament programmes. Commercially, the school is a subsidiary brand of Evergrande Group rather than a standalone listed business. Its fortunes are therefore tied to the parent's finances: after Evergrande Group's debt crisis from 2021, the school's operations, staffing and overseas programmes were reported to have been scaled back, and the wider Evergrande sports portfolio — including Guangzhou FC — was restructured. The school has nonetheless continued to operate and to place graduates into professional Chinese clubs, and it remains the best-known private football-academy brand in China. Its market positioning sits at the premium, institutional end of Chinese youth sport: a large, capital-intensive campus brand rather than a franchised coaching chain, competing for talented children and family investment against club academies, provincial sports schools and a growing number of private football schools.

Evergrande Football School was established by China Evergrande Group, the Guangzhou-based property developer whose football club, Guangzhou Evergrande FC, rose to prominence in Chinese and Asian football in the early 2010s. The school opened in 2012 on a large purpose-built campus in Qingyuan, Guangdong, with the stated aim of creating a world-class residential academy that would supply both the parent club and the Chinese national team. The project was conceived on an unusually large scale for Chinese youth football: extensive pitch complexes, boarding facilities and a full academic curriculum were built alongside professional coaching structures, and the school recruited children from across the country through nationwide trials. Evergrande also publicised international partnerships, including cooperation with Real Madrid's foundation on coaching methodology, and sent age-group teams abroad for training and tournaments, which reinforced the brand's premium, international positioning. Through the mid-2010s the school became the visible academy arm of the Evergrande sports brand, closely linked in marketing to the success of Guangzhou Evergrande FC and to Chinese football's broader investment boom. Graduates began appearing in professional squads, and the school's teams competed in domestic youth competitions. The turning point came with the financial distress of Evergrande Group from 2021. The parent's debt crisis forced asset sales and cost cutting across the group, and the football operations — including the professional club and the school — were affected by restructuring, reduced funding and reports of scaled-back staffing and overseas activities. The school continued to operate as an academy brand, but its expansion plans and its role as a showcase for group marketing diminished. In the years since, the school has remained one of the most recognisable private football academies in China, sustained by tuition-based enrolment and continued youth competition, while its ownership context remains the restructuring of the Evergrande group.

• 2021

  Evergrande Group's debt crisis leads to restructuring and cost cutting across its football operations, including the school.

• 2012

  Evergrande Football School opens its purpose-built campus in Qingyuan, Guangdong.

Premium, large-scale residential football academy brand backed by a major property group; positioned as an elite talent pipeline for Chinese professional and national football.

• Residential youth academy programme

• Age-group competitive teams

• Nationwide talent trials and camps

• Unconfirmed

  Evergrande Football School renamed to Guangzhou Sport University[1]恒大足校更名为广州体育学院163.com

  Reported: 2026-08-24

  Three months after entering bankruptcy reorganization, Evergrande Football School was renamed to Guangzhou Sport University.

• 2026-05

  Evergrande Football School enters bankruptcy reorganization[1]恒大足校更名为广州体育学院163.com

  Reported: 2026-08-24

  In May 2026, Evergrande Football School entered bankruptcy reorganization proceedings due to its parent company's debt crisis, with total liabilities of 2.888 billion yuan (including 2.815 billion yuan in parent company loans) and total assets of 810 million yuan (93% fixed assets).

1. 1恒大足校更名为广州体育学院163.com