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History before moving to Guangzhou

The club was founded in 1986 by the local Shenyang government sports body to take part in the Chinese football league system, and was named Shenyang. The team started at the bottom of the league system by playing in the second division. They were promoted to the 1988 Chinese Jia-A League quickly after the league expanded and Liaoning FC was ineligible to field their reserve team in the same division. The club was relegated after only one season. With the following campaigns the club mostly remained within the second tier, except for a short foray in the 1992 Chinese Jia-A League campaign; however, they were again relegated after only one season.

By the 1994 league season, the entire Chinese football league system had become professional. The team were allowed to gather sponsorship and renamed as Shenyang Liuyao, and were allowed to join the top tier due to their 1992 membership. When the club were relegated again at the end of the season, it was renamed Shenyang Huayang and then Shenyang Sealion in 1996. The club again won promotion to the top tier; however, this time they were able to avoid relegation. This was to be the beginning of the club's establishment within the league, though the team benefitted from several seasons where there was no relegation while the league expanded. In 2001, the club was taken over by Ginde Plastic Pipe Industry Group, a subsidiary of the Hongyuan Group and changed its name to Shenyang Ginde. In 2007, the club's homeground Wulihe Stadium was demolished. While the club was expected to move to another stadium within Shenyang, specifically the Shenyang Olympic Sports Center Stadium, the deal fell through and the club instead moved to Changsha, Hunan and changed its name to Changsha Ginde.

After Changsha Ginde were relegated to League One at the end of the 2010 season, the club was purchased by Mazamba and moved into the Shenzhen Stadium in the city of Shenzhen, Guangdong in February 2011. To represent this change, the owners changed the club's name to Shenzhen Phoenix, and also changed the home kit from sky blue to green. By May 2011, the club was exposed as having serious financial problems and were struggling to pay their players and their hotel accommodation.

History in Guangzhou

In serious doubt of completing the 2011 season, Shenzhen Phoenix was put up for sale. The club was bought by Chinese property developers Guangzhou R&F who moved the club to the Yuexiushan Stadium in Guangzhou and changed the club's colours back to blue. Under the new ownership results significantly improved and the club gained promotion back into the top tier at the end of the 2011 China League One season. The team finished the league in seventh, and the club's owners decided to commit their long-term future to the club by establishing a football school in Meizhou. The start of the 2013 Chinese Super League season, however, the club struggled in the league and the manager Sérgio Farias was fired. Former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson was appointed to replace him on June 4, 2013, and given a 19-month contract. Eriksson's first full season would see the club finish third, its highest league finish, and qualify for the Asian Champions League for the first time. Moroccan striker Abderazzak Hamdallah was a key player for the team, scoring 22 times in 22 appearances. However, manager Eriksson left at the end of his contract and moved to Shanghai SIPG who had finished fifth that year.

On 2 January 2015, the club announced that Cosmin Contra would be their new manager. Contra coached the club in their maiden appearance in the Asian Champions League, coming through the preliminary stages against Warriors FC and Central Coast Mariners to earn a place in the group stage. However, despite an away victory over Gamba Osaka, Guangzhou R&F were eliminated at the group stage. The club's league form was also poor and Contra was sacked on July 22. Li Bing was installed as caretaker manager. There were more changes as Korean defensive midfielder Park Jong-woo and the injured and unsettled Hamdallah also left the club mid-season. Hamdallah only scored three goals in 2015, making him the club's all-time leading foreign scorer at the time with 25, one ahead of Yakubu. The disruption continued as R&F were forced to play some of their home matches at Guangzhou's University City Stadium whilst Yuexiushan was being refurbished, just as in 2012.

The Dragan Stojković era

Guangzhou R&F announced Dragan Stojković as their new manager on 24 August 2015 and handed the former Yugoslav international a contract until the end of the 2017 season. Stojković preserved R&F's top flight status as they finished 14th out of 16 teams in 2015.

In July 2016, R&F signed Israeli international Eran Zahavi from Maccabi Tel Aviv. Whilst home stadium Yuexiushan was being refurbished, R&F played their opening home games in 2017 at the Guangdong Provincial People's Stadium. Stojković's attacking style of play and Zahavi's goals led R&F to finish fifth in the CSL in 2017. There was double disappointment on the final day of the season however, as the club fell just short of qualifying for the Champions League and Zahavi missed out on breaking the single season CSL scoring record by just one goal. However, his 27 goals earned him the 2017 golden boot. Guangzhou R&F reached the semi-finals of the CFA Cup in 2018, but had a disappointing CSL campaign as they finished 10th.

Guangzhou R&F finished 12th in the CSL in 2019. In attack, Zahavi's 29 goals set a new single season scoring record, but the team had the worst defensive record in the league, conceding 72 goals in 30 games. After spending over four seasons at the club - making him Guangzhou R&F's longest ever serving manager - Stojković left the club in January 2020.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst was announced as Guangzhou R&F's new manager on 4 January 2020. The CSL's format was disrupted because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and van Bronckhorst led the team to an 11th-place finish. After a CFA Cup quarter-final loss on penalties, the club announced on 3 December 2020 that van Bronckhorst had resigned as manager for personal reasons.

In accordance with the new national rules on removing sponsors from club names, the club was renamed Guangzhou City in December 2020.