Xu Jiayin was a poor guy. He claims that he ate only potatoes and bread during school days and that the beds on which he slept were covered with patches.”At that time, my biggest wish was to go to the countryside, find a decent job so that I could eat better,” he said.In the meantime, he became the richest man in China, he had a yacht worth 50,000,000 euros, a private plane, he used to wear Ermes belts that cost up to 5,000 euros, which is why they called him “Belt Su”… Founder and chairman of Alibaba Group Jack Ma (R) and Chairman of Evergrande Group Xu Jiayin in 2014 (©VCG/VCG via Getty Images)He knew how to earn, and he had good relations with the communist authorities, without which there is no business in China. And Jiayin was the richest man in China. In 2017, Bloomberg estimated his fortune at 43,000,000,000 euros!Then something changed. Chinese authorities have introduced stricter rules for prominent business people, and Xu’s company has run into big problems. The wealth of its owner fell to “only” 7,680,000,000 euros. In 2021 alone, it lost 12,370,000,000 euros in the fall of shares.##EDITORS_CHOICE##The company is called Evergrande. He is also the owner of Guangzhou, the most successful football club in China.He took it over in 2010 for only about 12,000,000 euros and made it a lighthouse that illuminated the path for all passengers to Chinese football. Not because it was specially organized, although the players had to sign certain rules of conduct, five of them more precisely, among other things, the ones that will listen to the referee’s decisions without discussion.##NAJAVA_MECA_5838260##However, Guangzhou – at first with the suffix Evergrande, later without it – attracted big world stars like a magnet because it was a hotbed of lucrative contracts. According to media reports, the club lost between 130,000,000 and 260,000,000 euros annually in one period.It sounds impossible, but it’s not when you keep in mind that in 2011 Guangzhou Evegrande brought Dario Conca – a man who never played for the national team of Argentina, who never played in Europe. And they made him among the top 3 highest-paid football players in the world. Conca received a contract that guaranteed him 9,000,000 euros per season. At that time, only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi had more.It was not Xu Jiayin’s only investment in football. Paulinho and Jackson Martinez were brought in for compensation of 42,000,000 euros, respectively. Paulinho during his Guangzhou days (©Fred Lee/Getty Images)But now, everything has changed, and they are running away from the club. The media report that all Guangzhou players are on the transfer list. The ten-time champion of China is on the verge of bankruptcy. Not even a year after losing the 11th title in the playoff finals, their debts lead Guangzhou into the abyss.The total liabilities of Evergrande are now estimated at the pharaonic 259,715,131,634 euros! Not millions. Billions are at stake. Slightly less than two per cent of the entire Chinese social product, which is why many suspect that the Evergrande are simply too big to go down.However, the National Bank of China has changed the rules of the game. The maximum debt of the company can now be “only” 70 per cent of the company’s value. When taking a loan from a bank, it must be guaranteed and backed up with the money on their account.Thanks for the memories Guangzhou Evergrande! pic.twitter.com/CIsVu2ClWb— Yixin (@yifullofsin) September 20, 2021 Xu Jiayin got into trouble. The man who sold the first 323 apartments he made in half a day is now forced to give at a discount. The price of a square meter fell by 14% as a consequence. The real estate boom has broken. The Evergrande company also broke down. Guangzhou football club also broke. It’s that simple.Local authorities might be able to help by taking over 10 to 15 per cent of the club’s shares. The state should bear the rest. The question is whether they are ready to do that. Foreign footballers are already planning an exodus. There were no salaries last month. And they only went to Chinese football for money. Coach Fabio Cannavaro will also be jobless. He will hardly find a job somewhere with his salary in Guangzhou – 12,000,000 euros per season.Fabio Canavaro earns 12,000,000 euros per season (©REUTERS/Ibraheem Al Omari)The club did not expect this. Last year, they started building a stadium with a capacity of 100,000 seats. They wanted the biggest stadium in the world. In the shape of a lotus. They were not interested in the fact that there is currently an average of 45,000 people in the 55,000-seat stadium.Xu Jiayin was a megalomaniac. That’s probably why he made so much money. The only problem is that in a country like China, you know who is deciding about everything. And President Xi Jinping realized that pouring millions into football will not bring much for that game to a not very talented country. In the midst of the economic crisis, he also noticed that the people would like stories about “social progress” more than about the enormous enrichment of the most capable “capitalists in communism”.Xu Jiayin will certainly never eat only potatoes and bread again. But China could lose its most trophy-winning club forever.By: Dejan Stankovic
