A FOOTBALL stadium larger than Wembley lies abandoned with cranes still towering over the unfinished stands.
Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande, now known as Guangzhou FC, have wowed fans with ambitious plans for their new 100,000 capacity stadium.
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The stadium is still half finishedCredit: Getty
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Ambitious plans showed a spectacular flower-shaped stadium with 100,000 seatsCredit: Reuters
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The site now lies abandoned after the developer ran into financial difficulties Credit: AFP
The initial design was for a lotus-shaped structure that would overshadow England’s home ground in north-west London.
Wembley can accommodate 90,000 seats, while the largest stadium in Europe, Barcelona’s Camp Nou, can accommodate a maximum of 99,354.
However, since the works started in April 2020, the owners of the club ran into financial problems.
Evergrande Group, one of China’s biggest conglomerates, is thought to have debts totaling a whopping £220 billion.
This forced the company to stop construction of a new stadium in Guangzhou.
In November 2021, the unfinished stadium was seized by the Chinese government with plans to sell it to another company or transfer ownership to the state-owned Guangzhou City Construction Investment Group.
The project was ultimately canceled in mid-2022.
Photos of the half-completed arena show bleachers with partially filled seats and cranes still in place because there were no builders to oversee them.
What was built of the stadium was to be auctioned.
However, last December the Chinese government was forced to step in and take over the debt-ridden company’s stadium.
Reports suggest Evergrande could make a loss of around £143m on the project after ceding ownership of the land to the government.
With the stadium abandoned, Guangzhou FC is forced to stay at the multi-purpose Tianhe Stadium, which has been their home ground since 2011 and has a capacity of just over 50,000 spectators.
Despite the team being a dominant force in Chinese football over the past decade, lifting eight CSL titles in 11 years, they were relegated from the Super League in 2022, winning just three games in 33 games.
Evergrande filed for bankruptcy protection in the US in August 2023.
In July this year, it recorded a total loss of £64bn for 2021 and 2022.
However, the real estate giant’s problems are only the tip of the iceberg as China’s real estate sector remains in turmoil.
Big developers failed to complete housing projects, which sparked protests and a boycott of mortgage loans by homeowners.
There are also fears that problems in the country’s real estate sector could affect other parts of the Chinese economy as growth slows.
Since the sector’s debt crisis erupted in mid-2021, companies that account for 40 percent of Chinese home sales have defaulted.
Beijing has recently tried to reinvigorate the real estate sector by lowering mortgage rates, cutting red tape and offering more loans to developers.
Huge blocks of flats remained eerily quiet as construction halted and unfinished skyscrapers were even bulldozed.
China’s shocking housing oversupply means analysts estimate a staggering 90 million people could be housed in empty properties.
The building frenzy has also left half-built amusement parks and tourist attractions derelict for years – and a full £110million replica of the Titanic has been rusting for six years.
An amusement park called Wonderland near Beijing has been abandoned for more than 20 years after construction was halted due to a dispute between local authorities and farmers over real estate prices.
It was promised to be “Asia’s largest amusement park” – but now it’s a post-apocalyptic maze of overgrown paths and abandoned castle-like buildings.
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Abandoned cranes tower over the construction site Credit: Getty
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The original plans were for the stadium to accommodate 100,000 spectators Credit: AFP
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Evergrande could make a loss of around £143 million on the project, reports Credit: AFP
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Source: HIS Education