Henan FC

Trips to Jinan and Beijing carry weight in Zhengzhou without anyone calling them a derby. Nothing in Henan FC's calendar has been given a name, and the meetings with Shandong Taishan and Beijing Guoan sit outside that category — which did not stop the 2025 FA Cup final from being a significant occasion. Beijing Guoan won it 3-0. It was the club's third defeat in the final, after 2001 and 2003.

Third place in the 2009 Chinese Super League remains the high mark, and it took the club into the AFC Champions League. Tang Yaodong was the coach that season. He had arrived in 2008, left in 2010, then came back for a second spell from 2012 to 2014.

Names have changed more often than divisions. Henan Jianye stood from 1994 until February 2021, when the Chinese Football Association's neutral-naming policy and a shift in ownership — the Zhengzhou and Luoyang governments came in as partners — produced Henan Songshan Longmen. That lasted until 2023, when it became simply Henan FC.

Zhengzhou Hanghai Stadium, opened in 2002, has held the home games since 2003, with 29,860 seats. Before it settled there the club moved about: the Henan Provincial Stadium in 1994, the Xinxiang Sports Centre in 1999 and again in 2004 and 2005, and part of the 2003 season at the Xigong Stadium in Luoyang.

Wang Shangyuan, the current captain, came through the club and has been in the first team since 2015. Ke Zhao played twelve seasons in the Super League era, from 2007 to 2019.

The professional structure dates from 27 August 1994. The football behind it is older: a Henan provincial side was put together in 1958, and the club counts its line from there.