The soccer park of the Shanghai Citizen Sports Park recently finished preliminary construction and is set to open to the public from Jan 1 next year, according to local officials.

The soccer park is the first-stage project of the Shanghai Citizen Sports Park, with a total of 50 football fields and 25 basketball courts.

Shanghai Citizen Sports Park, located in Anting town, Jiading district of Shanghai, is designed with an area of 2.8 square kilometers covering several sections themed around different sports.

The soccer park covers an area of 420,000 square meters, consisting of 18 eleven-a-side soccer pitches, 32 five-a-side soccer pitches, 25 basketball courts, and over 800 parking spots. Service centers, ecological running tracks, leisure squares, and other facilities are also available.

According to officials, the soccer park, which is aimed at serving local residents, is designed to be a sports entertainment site with fully-fledged sports facilities.

"It is both a pleasure and a pride to have such a high-level sports venue on the doorstep," said a local surnamed Zhao. "I'm already attracted by the professional pitches and the state-of-the-art facilities. After its official opening, I will look for the opportunity to play football with friends here."

According to Wang Hao, deputy head of Jiading district, the park ends the district's lack of soccer pitches and will provide a solid foundation to organize soccer activities, as well as provide a fresh impetus for the healthy and sustainable development of sports in the district.

"This is only the first project of Shanghai Citizen Sports Park. Such large-scale sports venues are scarce in Shanghai, so we will find professional companies to manage its operation," said Zhao Guangsheng, deputy director of the Shanghai sports bureau.

"It will launch public welfare times, as well as offer a fair and reasonable price range to attract more people to do sports at the venue."

Currently, the park operator is coordinating with the municipal (district) sports bureau, as well as other government departments and sports associations to organize nationwide fitness sports events on site in 2020.

Shanghai has been promoting national fitness programs, advancing the development of the sports industry, and expanding the supply of public sports services to build itself into a hub for international sports events and a world famous sports city.

The 5.3-square-kilometer area, including the Shanghai Citizen Sports Park and the SAIC International Circuit, has been planned as Shanghai International Sports Center, local officials said.

The center is designed as a strategic base for the development of Shanghai's sports industry, a demonstration area for the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region’s sports tourism, a national sports industry demonstration base, and a world-class sports culture exchange center.

The inauguration ceremony for the soccer park project of the Shanghai Citizen Sports Park is held on Sept 19 in Jiading district, Shanghai. [Photo/jiading.gov.cn]

An aerial photo shows the soccer park in Anting town, Jiading district of Shanghai. [Photo/jiading.gov.cn]