BEIJING, April 26 -- FAN Zhiyi, a local soccer star who defaulted on a loan, was ordered yesterday to return more than 7.2 million yuan (US$888,889) in principal and interest to a bank.

    Fan had argued he wasn't the "real" borrower, and he had taken out the loan on behalf of a real estate company. The company believed his famous name would make it easier for him to get a loan, Fan said.

    The Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court disagreed and ordered him to pay up.

    Fan signed a loan contract in January 2004 to borrow 7.4 million yuan from the Shinan subbranch of the Bank of Communications to buy a fourth-floor property in a building on Chuanhuang Road.

    On January 18 that year, Fan and his wife Li Qian signed a mortgage contract with the bank to use the property as mortgage for the loan.

    But Fan stopped payment after paying nearly 600,000 yuan in principal and interest.

    The bank filed a lawsuit seeking repayment of the loan and interest.

    Fan's lawyer argued that he wasn't the real borrower. He was entrusted by Shanghai Tianyue Real Estate Co Ltd, the property developer, to borrow the money in his name because his celebrity would make it easier to get a loan.

    So, Fan said that he never actually held any of the funds.