Shenzhen Football Club will compete with Dalian Chaoyue Football Club at Shenzhen Stadium on March 12, as the 2017 season of China League One opens March 11.

    Sixteen teams are contesting in the league, including 12 sides from the 2016 season, two relegated from the 2016 Chinese Super League and two promoted from the 2016 China League Two.

    Shenzhen FC is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the China League One division under license from the Chinese Football Association. China League One is the second tier of Chinese clubs. Above the China League One is the Chinese Super League.

    The home stadium of Shenzhen FC is the Shenzhen Stadium. The club’s current majority shareholder is property development company, Kaisa Group, which took over the club in April 2016.

    Founded in 1994, Shenzhen FC started at the bottom of the Chinese football pyramid in the third tier. After being promoted to the top tier in 1996, they won the 2004 Chinese Super League title and were in the semifinal of the 2005 AFC Champions League. Later the club has struggled to match the same success and was relegated to the second tier at the end of 2011.

    The team’s current head coach is Sven-Goran Eriksson from Sweden. He won 18 trophies with a variety of league clubs in Sweden, Portugal and Italy, between 1979 and 2000. He later managed the national teams of England, Mexico and the Ivory Coast, as well as three clubs in England. Eriksson was the head coach of Guangzhou R&F of the Chinese Super League from 2013-2014. He also led Chinese Super League team Shanghai SIPG from 2014 to 2016.

    1st match time: 4 p.m., March 12

    Tickets: 30-90 yuan

    Booking: damai.cn or at the stadium’s box office

    Whole season package

    tickets: 380 yuan/person (15 home match tickets, a club home shirt, a scarf, a key ring)

    Booking WeChat: shenzhen-fc

    Venue: Shenzhen Stadium, Sungang Road West, Futian District (福田区笋岗西路深圳体育场)

    Metro: Line 3, Tongxinling Station (通新岭站), Exit C(Cao Zhen)