Do you still remember the vision of the largest football stadium in the world to be built in China? Forget it. China Evergrande Group recently cancelled a multibillion-dollar deal to build the giant in Guangzhou. The compensation? A whopping $818 million!

It all started nicely in April 2020, when first renderings of the 100 000-capacity stadium in Guangzhou were unveiled, with the design of the facility inspired by a lotus flower. Although it was dripping with kitsch, one thing had to be said for sure: not only would it probably become the most spectacular stadium in the world, it would even surpass Camp Nou in terms of the number of seats. This would make Guangzhou FC Stadium the largest football-specific venue on the globe.

Well, it would. All plans will now have to be put in the bin because China Evergrande Group, the world's most indebted developer, has pulled out of the project. Even though construction was already underway! Its price was initially announced at CNY 6.8 bln, but by the time construction began, a cost of CNY 12 bln (approx. $1.7 bln) had been confirmed. There will neither be a lotus flower, which refers to the nickname of the city of Guangzhou, nor a spectacular diamond dome, as the vision for the entire structure was significantly modified during the design work.

© Guangzhou Evergrande

Construction of Guangzhou FC Stadium began in mid-2020 and was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2022. It is already the end of September, the stadium is not ready and it is unclear whether it will ever be. Despite the fact that nearly 20 cranes were working at full intensity on the construction site and the project was progressing regardless of the developer's financial problems, it turned out that the company's debts were so huge that the only option was to terminate the existing contract.

The Evergrande Group, which is also the majority shareholder of the local Guangzhou FC club, wrote a statement saying that the group’s liquidity issue has adversely affected the development of and construction on the land. For the time being, the eight-time Chinese Super League champions are not moving out of the multi-purpose Tianhe Stadium, which has been their home ground since 2011. Although the venue can hold more than 50,000 spectators in the stands during 'South China Tigers' matches, let's be honest, the difference is visible!

© Guangzhou Evergrande

We wrote about the Evergrande Group's problems exactly one year ago, when the company's financial issues had already affected more than just the construction of the stadium itself. There was also much talk of the potential bankruptcy of one of the most deserving Chinese clubs in history, and certainly the most successful in the last decade. At the time, all Guangzhou FC players were put on the transfer list and currently not a single foreigner can be found in the squad. Previously, the club's owners abandoned a youth football development project that involved sending Chinese players to clubs in Spain.

The growing debts were the result of the corporation's irrepressible expansion, which saw its financial obligations grow as the assets increased. The change in real estate regulations and the pandemic, which particularly affected the population in China, also played an important role. Evergrande expects a loss of around CNY 1.26 bln ($180 million) after relinquishing the property rights to the land, with the refund being significantly less than the book value of the asset. The developer will return the rights to use four plots of land, with a total area of nearly 500,000 m2, to the Guangzhou government.

© Guangzhou Evergrande

The would-be 100,000-seater was set to be one of the most significant arenas during the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. On May 14, 2022, the Asian Football Confederation announced that China was going to host the tournament due to circumstances caused by a pandemic and country's Zero-COVID policy. The latest news says that the Guangzhou government has agreed to complete the project, but nothing is known at this point about a potential date for the stadium's delivery.