Chinese club ditched plans to build world's largest football stadium likened to Sydney Opera House

The Chinese Super League side, formerly known as Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao, are historically one of the country's most successful clubs.

Guangzhou, who won eight league titles in nine years in the 2010s, were part of the huge influx of stars who moved from the European leagues to China, with millions being spent.

In 2010, they were taken over by the Evergrande Group, who wanted to grow the club by providing huge investment.

Former Tottenham midfielder Paulinho and ex-Manchester City man Robinho were just two stars who represented them.

Evergrande Group were also keen to build the Guangzhou Evergrande Football Stadium, an arena that would have filled 100,000 fans and become the world's largest football stadium.

READ MORE

Cristiano Ronaldo fumes as Jordan Henderson escapes red card in referee blunder

Messi jokingly calls streamer a 'son of a b****' live from the Ballon d'Or red carpet

"Evergrande Stadium will become a new world-class landmark comparable to the Sydney Opera House and Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and an important symbol of Chinese football to the world," Evergrande's chief executive Xia Haijun boasted at the time.

However, the ambitious plans were scuppered as a result of financial difficulties, with the area now simply a deserted construction site.

Work on the stadium, which would have been shaped like a lotus flower, commenced in April 2020 and was set to cost the club in the region of £1.4billion.

December 2022 was being eyed as the month in which the stadium would finally open but Evergrande Group ran into debt.

Most read in Football

Cristiano Ronaldo fumes as Jordan Henderson escapes red card in referee blunder

Ronaldo laughs along with pundit who savages 'retired' Messi for undeserved Ballons d'Or

'Bad trainer' De Bruyne sparked training ground bust-up at Chelsea that stunned legends

Arsenal and Man United kits set for major change from adidas for the new season

The company were reported to owe around a whopping £220million and despite such woes, tried to proceed with the construction.

However, the Chinese government intervened and seized the stadium from them in November 2021.

Despite their plans to sell it off, no sale has yet taken place and the project was fully cancelled last year.

All that remains is the basic perimeter of the stadium's stands, with seats scattered around and cranes looming over the baron grounds.

Guangzhou, who were relegated from the Chinese Super League in 2022 to China League One, now play at the Yuexiushan Stadium.

It only holds a capacity of around 18,000 fans, a far cry from what their ground could have held at the proposed Guangzhou Evergrande Football Stadium.