Gwangju FC to Host Home Matches at Soccer-Specific Stadium Starting May

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 12th that it will complete the construction of a soccer-specific stadium, being developed as the home ground for the Gwangju Citizen Professional Football Club (Gwangju FC), by April and proceed with hosting home games at the new stadium starting in May.

Gwangju City has invested 16.4 billion KRW to support the Gwangju Citizen Professional Football Club to play in a better environment by developing a soccer-specific stadium at the auxiliary field of the World Cup Stadium, equipped with a match operation room, 17 player dormitory rooms, and 7,000 spectator seats.

The city originally planned to complete the construction by December last year to utilize the stadium from the opening game in March this year.

However, as the Gwangju Citizen Professional Football Club was promoted to the first division league, Gwangju City reflected an additional budget in December last year and has been pushing to install an additional 3,000 seats to meet the minimum requirement of 10,000 spectator seats set by the Korea Professional Football League.

Gwangju City plans to complete the core facilities of the stadium, including the management headquarters building with the match operation room, player dormitories, and 7,000 spectator seats by next month, and to swiftly proceed with contract orders for the additional 3,000 seats, completing the process by the end of April through the Korea Professional Football League’s certification procedure for dedicated stadiums.

Additionally, until the soccer-specific stadium is completed, the city plans to consult with the Korea Professional Football League to hold the 2020 season home games of the Gwangju Citizen Professional Football Club at the existing Gwangju World Cup Stadium.

Furthermore, reflecting opinions that there may be inconvenience due to the lack of a roof facility over the spectator seats, the city will additionally install a roof facility over the spectator seats, which was not included in the current plan.

The roof facility over the spectator seats will be installed from December, when the season ends and the off-season begins, until February 2021. Through this, it is expected that from next year, citizens will be able to watch games in a convenient and comfortable environment.

A city official said, “It is very gratifying that the Gwangju Citizen Professional Football Club advanced to the first division league last year, thanks to the overwhelming interest and support from citizens. Although it is regrettable that the first game this year will not be held at the dedicated stadium, we will promptly create a safe and comfortable stadium so that citizens can enjoy soccer games at the dedicated stadium.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.