[5] Shanghai Shenhua's predecessor was originally called East China, a team name used as far back as 1910 for football in the multi-sport event Chinese National Games.

However, few achieved any success despite being close on several occasions, except for Muricy Ramalho's brief spell when the club won the 1998 Chinese FA Cup.

[13] Lu Jun and Zhang Jianqiang were both officially charged with match-fixing, while Shenhua's general manager Lou Shifang was discovered to be the person who orchestrated the bribes.

His first act was to replace the previously successful existing head coach Wu Jingui with Shanghai United's Osvaldo Giménez.

[18] The appointment was to prove highly disruptive and Wu Jingui was quickly brought back as the head coach after only a few months, but was sacked on 9 September 2008.

[21] After a disappointing 2011 season in the Chinese Super League, Zhu Jun decided to bring in a marquee player, so on 12 December 2011, it was confirmed that Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka would be arriving in Shanghai in January 2012, while six days later, it was announced that his compatriot Jean Tigana would be the head coach from the 2012 season.

After a successful season playing for Chelsea and winning the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League, Ivorian striker Didier Drogba signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with Shenhua.

[23] The relationship between Zhu Jun and the other shareholders became even more fractious at the beginning of the 2013 league season when the Chinese FA issued the club with a six-point deduction for match-fixing ten years prior and a fine of one million Yuan.

This would lead to a shareholder dispute between the other shareholders SVA, Shanghai Media Group, Shanghai Electric Group, and Huangpu SASAC on who should pay for this fine, which saw a gap in the club finances that saw Rolando Schiavi, Patricio Toranzo, and Giovanni Moreno refuse to play the 31 March 2013, league game against Liaoning Whowin because of unpaid wages.

Subsequent badge alterations which eliminated Shenhua from the team's logo drew significant criticism from many of the club's supporters, who publicly voiced their dissatisfaction on 9 March 2014, during the league game against Shanghai Shenxin as they saw removing Shenhua from the club's name as a stain on the team's heritage and history.

[29] On 3 February 2015, three days after the Australian national football team won the AFC Asian Cup, Tim Cahill announced he had been signed by the Shenhua, moving from the New York Red Bulls[30] Despite signing a one-year contract extension in November 2015, Tim Cahill announced on his Instagram on 16 February 2016, that his contract had been terminated by incoming coach Gregorio Manzano.

[31] No reason was given for his termination beyond saying that he was "not part of the new coach Manzano's plans for the 2016 season..."[32] Shanghai Shenhua won the 2019 Chinese FA Cup, beating Shandong Luneng Taishan 3–0 at a packed Hongkou Stadium on 6 Dec 2019, making it a 3–1 aggregate victory for the Blues.

[41] Shenhua won their game while Inter surprisingly lost theirs to relegation fighting club Tianjin Kangshifu.

This saw critics dispute the title win and it was eventually discovered that both teams had players and officials match-fix games throughout the campaign.

[17] Shenhua would retrospectively lose their title while the Inter owners decided it was financially unviable to remain in Shanghai and relocated their team to Xi'an, which effectively ended the rivalry.

The rivalry between the two teams never reached the same intensity as what was experienced against Inter because United had only recently relocated to the city and was building their fan base.

[41] Any development of a rivalry was ultimately cut short when Zhu Jun took over both teams and merged them together, with Shenhua keeping their name.

However, it was the promotion of Shanghai SIPG in 2013 that caught the fans' imagination because they were formed by Xu Genbao, who had previously managed Shenhua.

This act of provocation incited massive rebuke from the Shenhua fans, resulting in the ad being removed the day after.

[44] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.