Beijing, April 15. Beijing reopens this Saturday the Workers Stadium, home of the Beijing Guoan of the Chinese Super League (CSL) and one of the temples of Chinese football, after three years closed for renovation.
The stadium will officially open the Super League season with the match that Beijing Guoan will play tonight with Meizhou Hakka and for which tickets sold out in a matter of minutes.
The stadium had been under renovation for years to host a 2023 Asian Cup, which, faced with China’s inability to ensure spectator presence in the stands in time due to its pandemic restrictions, finally moved to Qatar in 2024.
The stadium was built in 1959 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and to host the first National Games that year.
After that, the stadium has witnessed many other historic moments, such as the 1990 Asian Games and the 2008 Summer Olympics.
The center underwent four large-scale renovations, reported the local press, but “some security problems persisted,” according to the Global Times newspaper, which required further reconstruction, which began in 2020.
Thus, the athletics tracks have been eliminated, which means that the closest distance between the stands and the playing field is now only 8.5 meters.
In addition, the reconstruction has also increased the capacity of the stadium to 68,000 spectators and a cooling system has been installed in the stands for the summer.
The main function of the stadium, since 1996, has been to host the home games of Chinese Super League (CSL) giant Beijing Guoan.
But in addition to football and other sporting events, the stadium has also hosted concerts over the years: not surprisingly, the Wham! became the first Western pop group to perform in China at this venue in 1985.
The new stadium will also have sports facilities and a shopping center to revitalize the area where it is located, in the populous Chaoyang district.
The Chinese public returns this Saturday to the stands of the Super League three years after being away from the fields due to the covid, and with the record presence of five Spanish coaches.
Pedro Morilla, Javier Pereira, Sergio Zarco, Jordi Vinyals and Antonio Gómez – Carreño open a championship that inaugurates a new era at the helm of five clubs. EFE
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