We Are The Reds

The videos posted about the clubs 15 year anniversay and formation in the nsl were fantastic.

They really went in depth and covered things that long term fans would be interested in .

Regardless of onfield performances i feel like the old days are making a comeback reminiscent of pickard and bianco and its taken a dutchman and chinese investors to make it happen.

The one gripe i have which is not the new owners fault at all is all this emphasis on rebuilding the youth academies and producing our own talent....

We have just had 2 La masia veterans run this club (with distinction) but did not capitalise on any potential legacy from their work.

If only the stars aligned and we had gombau and amor at this club with owners who moved to the same beat.

Adelaide United

Although Adelaide United Chairman, Piet van der Pol, has worked in football for 15 years, it is unlikely that he has ever been in roles where he earned enough to be able to afford an A-League club license and its subsequent operational costs. He is on the record as saying that the investors include two other Dutch nationals and one Chinese national, including one of the Netherlands’ richest men, but they wish to remain anonymous to "protect their privacy".

It is unclear why Adelaide United is not transparent about their ownership, and it is almost as mysterious that Adelaide United fans seem happy not to know.

Van der Pol is President and CEO of Qingdao Red Lions in Shandong province, a club he formed with Rob van Eck and former Adelaide United Board member, Bruno Marveggio in 2016. The club's naming rights sponsor is Fortschritt, a German company listed in Hong Kong, that manufactures agricultural machinery.

Adelaide United is owned by Australian Football Opportunities Pty Ltd which in turn is owned by the Hong Kong registered Global Football Opportunities. The sole director of each is given as the 47-year-old van der Pol.

The initial shareholder and first director of Global Football Opportunities was Rob van Eck who, like Martin Lee, has substantial business structures in Shenzhen, China, where he has been based for 13 years.

Amongst other things, van Eck is the Managing Director of Smart Brands International, which is involved with the development, production and worldwide distribution of high quality consumer goods under major retail brands including Goodyear, Dunlop and Grundig.

He is also involved with a number of similar companies, including Shenzhen Intra Industry, a trading group that exports products for retailers worldwide, working closely with Dutch family-owned trading company, EDCO, and Shenzhen ATR. EDCO is owned by the Adriaanse family, and the head of SZATR is Mr Yu Li Dong. It is understood that van Eck, Adriaanse and Yu were co-directors in a company known as Jaliro International (made up of the first two letters of each of their given names - Ja Li Ro) which is also involved in import/export.

Van Eck established Global Football Opportunities in October 2017; van der Pol was made the sole director in February this year. Via Adelaide accounting firm, Tilbrook Rasheed, van der Pol established Australian Football Opportunities in February with the initial transfer of shares to Adelaide United taking place on 7 March.

The directors of Adelaide United and Australian Football Opportunities are van der Pol and David Rasheed, who is also Company Secretary.

Ownership

Netherlands: 75%; China 25%

Personally, I'm not too interested in who the owners are, or how much money they have, or what industries they make their money in. As long as they're not fraudulent or involved in an industry like armaments, gambling, sex, cigarettes or alcohol.

Personally, I'm not too interested in who the owners are, or how much money they have, or what industries they make their money in. As long as they're not fraudulent or involved in an industry like armaments, gambling, sex, cigarettes or alcohol.

I think the article implies that the named people and businesses are the likely owners.

I do hope that our owners are not getting jittery in relation to the China-Australia diplomatic spat.