Industry News

Tokyo 2020 reveals football stadia as venue plan finalised

All venues for the Tokyo 2020 summer Olympic and Paralympic Games have now been approved after the stadium plan for football events was revealed.

The seven venues selected for the football matches are: Tokyo Stadium, Sapporo Dome (pictured), Miyagi Stadium, Ibaraki Kashima Stadium, Saitama Stadium, International Stadium Yokohoma and Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium.

Sapporo Dome, Miyagi Stadium, Saitama Stadium and International Stadium Yokohama also staged matches during the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which Japan hosted alongside South Korea.

The Games will take place at 43 venues, 25 of which will be pre-existing facilities. Ten temporary venues will be used, while just eight permanent facilities have been constructed.

The planned construction of three new permanent venues was cancelled, which has led to the percentage of venues using existing facilities rising from around 40 per cent to almost 60 per cent. This has also led to a reduction of more than 200 billion yen (£1.3bn/€1.5bn/$1.8bn) in costs.

The increased use of existing venues forms part of a new policy, New Norm, which was announced by the International Olympic Committee in February 2018 and outlines a number of solutions for the more efficient hosting of Games. The Olympic Stadium is one of a number of venues that will be turned into a community facility after the Games.

Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori said: “I am very happy that, with us having submitted our proposals for all football venues as a single request, we received approval for all of them today, which means the venues for all of the sports in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 have now been decided.

“As a result of various reviews, the percentage of venues utilising existing facilities has increased from around 40 per cent at the time of our bid to almost 60 per cent now. We will cooperate with neighbouring and regional municipalities in the use of their facilities and will host the Games together. We believe that these Games will prove to be a model for a sustainable Games while delivering the excitement of the Games to more people.”

Image: Yumemi.k