Abandoned 100,000-seater Lotus blossom stadium, once home to a club ejected from the league.
A Billion-Dollar Stadium Dream Unrealized: Guangzhou FC's Unfinished Lotus Stadium
In 2020, Chinese football powerhouse Guangzhou FC set out to create a new 100,000-seat stadium, culminating in a lotus-shaped monument to their dominance. Owned by the Evergrande Group since 2010, the team had amassed an impressive eight league titles in just nine years.
Known as Guangzhou Evergrande, the club proposed naming the proposed Evergrande Stadium after their investors. Construction plans were publicly announced in April 2020, boasting a unique design and aiming to surpass Barcelona's Camp Nou as the world's largest purpose-built football stadium.
However, Guangzhou's dreams of a colossal stadium seemed only fit for the gods when the Evergrande Group faced crippling debts of approximately £220 billion. The once-ambitious project was put on hold as the Evergrande Group struggled to finance their endeavor.
Despite their woes, the company attempted to push the construction forward, but their efforts were impeded in November 2021 when the Chinese government seized the stadium from them. Efforts to sell the unfinished arena to another company never materialized, leaving the abandoned stadium to linger for almost two years.
Photos from this period show the lower-tier of the incomplete stadium in various stages of completion. Scattered materials, cranes, and scaffolding were strewn across the barren grounds, as the stadium's fate remained uncertain. The cancelation of the stadium project came shortly after the club's owners filed for bankruptcy and sold their star players.
The departure of key players, including ex-Tottenham midfielder Paulinho, contributed to Guangzhou's decline on the pitch. The once-great team was relegated to the second-tier China League One in 2022 and moved into the Yuexiushan Stadium ahead of their 2023 campaign. The stadium, with a capacity of just 18,000, pales in comparison to the grandeur they once envisioned.
Amidst their fall from grace, Guangzhou faced expulsion from professional football in China in January 2023 due to an inability to pay their debts. In a statement, the club expressed regret and apologized to supporters.
Remarkably, the Chinese government stepped in, transferring the abandoned stadium to the state-owned Guangzhou City Construction Investment Group. Rather than abandoning the project altogether, the new owners will oversee a much-altered vision, with construction set to recommence in 2024 and the stadium expected to be completed by the end of the year. The revised project will cost an estimated £253 million, a significant reduction from the initial £1.36 billion proposal.
The new Evergrande Stadium will boast a reduced capacity of 73,000 and a new design, marking the beginning of a new era for Guangzhou FC and the city of Guangzhou. As the sands of time shift, so too does the stadium's fate, like the ever-changing petals of the lotus flower that once represented hopes of glory.
- Despite the unfinished Lotus Stadium and the team's financial struggles, Guangzhou FC was relegated to the second-tier China League One in 2022 and was forced to play in the Yuexiushan Stadium.
- The global world of sports witnessed the fall of Guangzhou FC, with their decline on the pitch correlating to their economic downturn.
- The European-leagues, such as the Premier League and the Champions League, continued to thrive while Guangzhou FC grappled with their financial crisis.
- The cancellation of the original Evergrande Stadium project, due to the Evergrande Group's crippling debts, left room for other opportunities in the sports industry, such as F1 racing or the World Cup.
- The revival of the Evergrande Stadium project, now under the supervision of the Guangzhou City Construction Investment Group, offers a new chapter for Guangzhou FC and the city of Guangzhou, reminiscent of the petals of the symbolic lotus blossom gradually unfurling.
