Zhejiang Professional

Jordi Vinyals arrived to find a side that had spent most of two decades bouncing between divisions, and left it with the two best finishes in its history: third in the Chinese Super League in 2022, then third again in 2023. The first of those seasons also carried a run to the CFA Cup final, which they lost, and a place in the AFC Champions League.

The origins are corporate rather than civic. Zhejiang University and the provincial football association put the club together in Hangzhou in 1998, and it started in the third tier the following year. Rather than climb, it bought: in 2000 the playing rights and squad of Jilin Aodong were purchased outright to move up a division. The names kept shifting with the money behind them — Greentown in various arrangements for most of two decades, then plain Zhejiang Professional from 2021. In 2024 the property owners sold out to a Hangzhou commerce and tourism group.

Before Vinyals, the reference point was Wu Jingui, whose 2010 team finished fourth. Nyasha Mushekwi remains the club's leading scorer in the top flight; Tim Cahill passed through late in his career. The academy has produced Tong Lei and Wang Yudong.

Home is the Huanglong Sports Center Stadium. There is no city rival to fill it — Zhejiang are the only top-tier side in Hangzhou — so the fixture that carries weight is against Shanghai Shenhua, billed as the Yangtze River Delta Derby.

What is missing is a trophy. Two second places in China League One brought promotions; the 2022 cup final and the two third-place finishes brought nothing to put in a cabinet. Ross Aloisi inherits a club that has learnt how to finish near the top and not yet how to finish above it.