In the midst of the 2026 FIFA World Cup being held in the Americas, the Chinese national soccer team once again misses out on the tournament. In Guangzhou, China, the abandoned soccer stadium left behind by the former funder, Evergrande Group, faces a new crisis of abandonment after being taken over by a state-owned enterprise for over three years.
Evergrande Group, a real estate developer, ventured into soccer investment during its peak in 2010. Its founder, Xu Jiayin, announced a 100 million yuan takeover of the former Guangzhou Guangyao football team, which had been relegated to the second-tier league due to match-fixing scandals, renaming it Guangzhou Evergrande.
In 2020, Evergrande spent 6.8 billion yuan to acquire a piece of land in Xiecun, Panyu District of Guangzhou, with plans to invest 12 billion yuan to build a new stadium capable of seating 100,000 spectators, aiming to become the largest soccer stadium globally. However, shortly after the stadium construction began, Evergrande faced a debt crisis, leading to a halt in the project.
In October 2022, state-owned enterprise Guangzhou City Investment took over the project for 3.15 billion yuan, renaming it Guangzhou Football Park. Built by China Construction Fourth Bureau, the stadium’s capacity was scaled down to 73,000, remaining the largest in China and among the top ten in the world. Surrounding amenities include a sports-themed city complex, outdoor sports park, apartments, and residential areas.
It was officially stated that the Football Park would be completed and operational by the end of last year, but the project has been continuously delayed. A blogger in April this year mentioned in a video that there had been minimal progress in the past six months, indicating that the project was awaiting Evergrande’s debt resolution before recommencing construction, with an expected opening next year.
On June 22, as reported by Hong Kong’s “Sing Tao Daily,” journalists visited the site of Evergrande’s abandoned soccer stadium in Panyu, Guangzhou. Despite the project being taken over by local government or state-owned enterprises, the site remains in a state of abandonment.
Reporters observed unfinished walls and installations at the stadium, inadequate surrounding facilities, with only ten completed apartment buildings. There were few workers present at the site, and even the “one-stop personnel entry service area” for worker registration and medical examinations was closed. The security guard at the entrance admitted to the project being delayed, stating that completion was “not imminent.”
According to a real estate agent at the neighboring Guangzhou Football Park Apartments, the stadium had halted construction for several months due to financial constraints at the end of last year but resumed work after receiving government funding following the Chinese New Year this year. An employee of the apartment project’s construction team jokingly said, “Maybe it will never be completed in this lifetime.”
Xu Jiayin established Evergrande in 1996 and led the company to go public in Hong Kong in 2009. Over time, Evergrande expanded its business scope, ranging from residential properties, finance, culture and tourism, soccer, mineral water, to automobiles. Xu Jiayin himself became China’s richest person in 2017 with a worth of 290 billion yuan.
By 2021, Evergrande’s wealth management products defaulted. By the end of 2022, Evergrande’s debt had accumulated to around 2.44 trillion yuan, leading to a debt crisis. In September 2023, Xu Jiayin faced enforcement measures. In March of this year, Evergrande Real Estate Shenzhen Company officially went into bankruptcy liquidation. However, the debts owed by Evergrande’s creditors have yet to be fully recovered.
On April 14 this year, Xu Jiayin’s trial for various charges, including fundraising fraud, began. At the trial, the 67-year-old Xu Jiayin pleaded guilty to all eight charges without offering any defense.
During its prime, Xu Jiayin ambitiously recruited renowned coaches such as Lippi and Scolari, as well as star players like Conca and Paulinho, leading Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club to swift success, winning the Chinese Super League titles eight times in nine years and twice clinching the AFC Champions League, becoming one of the most successful clubs in China’s “Money Soccer” era. Following Evergrande’s debt revelation, Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club (Guangzhou Team) faltered. In January 2025, the Guangzhou Team announced its withdrawal from the Chinese professional league, leading to the disbandment of Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club.