Shanghai Derby Staged in Hongkou Football Stadium

By Shen Chunchen

Hongkou Football Stadium witnessed two successive sessions of Shanghai Derby, attracting 50,818 football fans altogether, the highest record so far in the stadium.

In the quarter final of 2015 Chinese Super League Season unveiled on August 19, Greenland Shenhua and SIPG, both based in Shanghai, came into direct confrontation. As both teams invested lavishly in absorbing top-tier domestic and foreign players, and the match bore a typical Derby element of “red versus blue”, the pre-match atmosphere was unprecedentedly exciting. Statistics show that the total number of spectators at the match reached 25,786, outnumbering the 25,386 spectators for the match between Shenhua and Guoan in July, thus recording the highest figure at Hongkou Football Stadium for Chinese Super League matches.

When Round 24 of Chinese Super League was kicked off on August 23, the second Derby in a week was staged in Hongkou Football Stadium again, attracting 25,032 fans to cheer for their beloved teams.

Excitingly, both teams played well up to the expectation of their fans by a high-level match seldom seen these years, making the two Derbies really memorable and worth the price, according to the fans. (Photo by Shen Chunchen)