Soccer News: Professional Football Stadiums Are a Key Criterion for CFA’s Home City Selection

According to Soccer News, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) has included the presence of professional football stadiums as a criterion in its selection of home cities.

The CFA has confirmed the venues for the first two home matches of the top 18 stage: the Dalian Kelp Bay Football Stadium and the Qingdao Youth Football Stadium. The CFA provided reasons for these selections, which, in addition to basic hardware requirements, primarily considered three factors: first, the national team’s travel arrangements; second, climate; third, seating capacity to meet fans’ viewing needs and create a vibrant home atmosphere. Given these considerations, Dalian and Qingdao, with their cooler weather and professional football stadiums, became the chosen hosts for the national team’s first two home games.

In response to applications from other cities, Soccer News wrote: “There are currently many professional stadiums in China, including in Xi’an, Beijing, Chengdu, and elsewhere. Xi’an did not apply to host the national team’s first two home games; previously, there had been plans for the national team to play in Xi’an, but these fell through, causing significant losses for the team, so even if Xi’an were to apply, it would face considerable difficulties. Chengdu applied to host the national team’s home game in October; when the national team played in Chengdu before, some issues arose that need to be addressed; if there is sufficient determination and adequate measures in place, future home games could potentially be arranged in Chengdu. Beijing applied to host individual matches, with the National Stadium and Workers’ Stadium as venues; the Workers’ Stadium, as a large professional football stadium, is naturally a favored location among fans. Chongqing also applied, but its large professional football stadium has yet to host major football events. The venue in Xiamen is convertible between athletics and football, and compared to a pure professional football stadium, the main stand is relatively distant, similar to Shanghai Stadium.”

Finally, Soccer News stated that in theory, all matches of the Chinese men’s national team will generally be held at professional football stadiums. However, non-professional football stadiums do have their advantages, and the national team might consider them for home games during the 36-strong stage, such as Tianjin and Shenyang, due to the strong home atmosphere they can generate and their rich experience in hosting events, which has been tested over time.