Guangzhou Football Park

Guangzhou Football Park is a football stadium under construction in Guangzhou, China. The construction of the 12 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion) stadium began on 16 April 2020.[1] The design of the lotus-shaped stadium was that of Shanghai-based American architect Hasan Syed.[2] The stadium would have had a seating capacity for 100,000 people and was planned to open in December 2022.[1][3]

Guangzhou Football Park
Guangzhou Football Park under construction in March 2024
Map
Full nameGuangzhou Football Park
Former namesGuangzhou Evergrande Football Stadium
LocationPanyu District, Guangzhou, China
Coordinates22°59′05.2″N 113°17′11.7″E / 22.984778°N 113.286583°E / 22.984778; 113.286583
Capacity74,707
Construction
Broke groundApril 2020; 4 years ago (2020-04)[1]
Construction cost12 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion)
ArchitectHasan Syed (Gensler)

In September 2021, the Evergrande Group said that the construction of the stadium would still proceed despite the company's liquidity crisis.[4] In November 2021, the stadium was seized by the Chinese government with plans to sell the incomplete stadium to another company or transfer ownership to the state-owned Guangzhou City Construction Investment Group. At that time construction of the stadium was reportedly halted for at least three months already, contradicting Evergrande's earlier statement.[5]

In mid-2022, due to the Chinese property sector crisis sparked by the Evergrande Group, it was assumed that the project was cancelled.[6] In March 2024, the Guangzhou City Construction Investment Group handed the site to China Construction Fourth Engineering Division, a subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering, to continue construction. The stadium would be redesigned by the Guangdong Architectural Design and Research Institute to a design revealed in September 2023, which saw the loss of the lotus design and a reduction in capacity to 74,707.[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Bigger than Camp Nou: Guangzhou starts work on 100,000-capacity stadium". Channel News Asia. 16 April 2020. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  2. ^ Duerden, John (17 April 2020). "Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande building world's biggest stadium for $1.7bn". ESPN.com. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Guangzhou to build China's largest professional football stadium - China.org.cn". www.china.org.cn.
  4. ^ "China Evergrande says stadium construction proceeding as planned". Reuters. 28 September 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  5. ^ "China Evergrande soccer stadium taken over by government -source". Reuters. 26 November 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  6. ^ Cook, James (5 August 2022). "Evergrande cancels football stadium deal and receives $818m – will this stave off a collapse?". Business Leader. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  7. ^ "Guangzhou football stadium rises again". Coliseum Global Sports Venue Alliance. 15 March 2024.