In July 2016, R&F signed Israeli international Eran Zahavi from Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. Whilst home stadium Yuexiushan was being refurbished, R&F played their opening home games in 2017 at the Guangdong Provincial People's Stadium. Stojkovic'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 ACL 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.