Kunshan Football Stadium – stadium description

What is the Kunshan Football Stadium like in a nutshell?

The stadium in the eastern part of Kunshan (practically on the outskirts of Shanghai) is a modern football facility with a capacity of 45,000 spectators. Its roof and facade are decorated with an off-white membrane, and the whole thing is meant to be reminiscent of traditional Chinese fans.

The impetus for the construction of the stadium was the 2023 Asian Cup, which, however, did not take place in China due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And the host was to be Kunshan FC, which was disbanded... months before the completion of construction, moreover, after promotion to the Chinese Super League!

Although the stadium was ready by mid-2023, it had to wait until early 2025 for its inauguration – then two teams from neighboring Shanghai faced each other in an exciting match for the Chinese FA Super Cup.

How was the Kunshan Football Stadium built?

The impetus for the construction of a new stadium in Suzhou was that in June 2019 China was awarded the hosting of the 2023 Asian Cup. Local authorities applied to co-host the event, and in late 2019 the Chinese Football Association announced 10 host cities for the tournament, Suzhou being one of them.

Where was the Kunshan Football Stadium built?

There were already several large stadiums in Suzhou, but all of them had an athletics track, meanwhile, a brand new, football-specific facility was to be built for the tournament. The new venue was to stand in Kunshan, a county-level city that is administratively part of Suzhou (a prefecture-level city).

Kunshan was recently home to Kunshan FC, a football club that won promotion to China League One (second division) in the 2019 season. The team played its matches at Kunshan Sports Center Stadium, located in the western part of Kunshan.

The new football stadium was to be built on the other side of the city, in its eastern part, practically halfway between the urban centers of Suzhou and Shanghai (about 50 kilometers in each direction).

Who designed the Kunshan Football Stadium?

The design was created by the German office gmp Architekten in cooperation with China's Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd. Schlaich bergermann partner (sbp) was responsible for the roof structure. The renderings of the stadium were released in late spring 2020.

The design of Kunshan Football Stadium can be seen on a separate subpage

When was Kunshan Football Stadium built?

Construction of the stadium began on October 29, 2020, and the contractor was China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau. The work was scheduled to be completed at the end of 2022 – eventually the facility was ready in the summer of 2023.

When was Kunshan Football Stadium opened?

During the construction of the stadium, in May 2022 – due to the COVID-19 pandemic – China withdrew from hosting the 2023 Asian Cup. In addition, Kunshan FC, which was to be the host of the new facility, though in the 2022 season was promoted to the top division (Chinese Super League), at the same time ran into financial problems and was dissolved.

The lack of a solid host candidate, and the lack of other events the facility could host, meant that the stadium, which was practically ready in mid-2023, waited a long time for its inauguration.

The first event at the new stadium did not take place until February 7, 2025, when the Chinese FA Super Cup match was played there – featuring two teams from neighboring Shanghai that had dominated the league in the previous season: Shanghai Port and Shanghai Shenhua. After a thrilling encounter, the Shenhua team won 3–2, reversing the game's fate in added time thanks to two goals.

How does the Kunshan Football Stadium look like?

The stadium's design was inspired by the traditional Chinese fan: the arena's exterior features 36 sets of double reinforced concrete pillars that symbolize the ribs in a fan, and the space between them is filled with a white membrane – thanks to folds, it is shaped to resemble the surface of a fan.

Steel girders were attached to the concrete pillars, forming the structure of the roof. The roof covers the entire auditorium and continues the motif used in the facade – its sheathing is made of the same white membrane (only the end sections are finished with glazing). Floodlights have also been installed under the roof.

The facility has stands in a football-specific layout, divided into two tiers (including a middle balcony) and elevated relative to the pitch for better visibility. The seats on the stands form a mosaic, consisting mainly of shades of turquoise. Two video screens have been installed in the stands behind the goals.

From the outside, the venue is surrounded by a circular, elevated promenade. Between it and the stadium is a strip of open space, over which 48 footbridges have been built, leading to the entrances of the stands.

With a capacity of 45,000 spectators, the stadium is very modern and meets the requirements for hosting top-level football events. The facility can also host a number of other activities, such as music concerts.

What is located in the surroundings of Kunshan Football Stadium?

The plot of land surrounding the stadium was arranged as a park, with the incorporation of watercourses that previously ran through it. Paths and parking lots were created within the premise, as well as three full-size training fields, smaller fields and an athletics track.

Less than 2 km from the stadium is the Xiajiahegongyuan subway station on Metro Line 11, which opened in June 2023 and connects the Suzhou Metro with the Shanghai Metro system.