Zhongshan Soccer Stadium, Chungshan Soccer Stadium, or Taipei Soccer Stadium () was a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

in Zhongshan District,

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. It was established in 1923 as during the Japanese period. The soccer stadium was opened in 1989, it was reconstructed from the former site of Yuanshan Baseball Ground () under the guidance of then

Chinese Taipei Football Association Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) is the governing body for football in the Republic of China (commonly known as Taiwan). Its official name in Chinese is the Republic of China Football Association, but due to the political status of Taiw ...

President

Chiang Wei-kuo Chiang Wei-kuo (; 6 October 1916 – 22 September 1997), also known as Wego Chiang, was the adopted son of Republic of China President Chiang Kai-shek, the adoptive brother of President Chiang Ching-kuo, a retired Army general, and an important f ...

. Although it was built as a

soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-pu ...

, it was mostly used for live concerts or other activities due to lack of professional football league in Taiwan. The stadium was able to hold 20,000 people for football games and 40,000 for

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety a ...

s. It was managed by the Hope Foundation led by former athlete Chi Cheng.

Location

Zhongshan Soccer Stadium was located across of Yumen Street () and Minzu West Road (). Nearby was the

Yuanshan Station Yuanshan () is a metro station in Taipei, Taiwan served by Taipei Metro. It is a station on the . There was a station of the same name on the now-defunct Tamsui railway line. Station overview The two-level, elevated station structure with one ...

Taipei Metro Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), branded as Metro Taipei, is a rapid transit system serving the areas of Taipei and New Taipei City, New Taipei in Taiwan, operated by the State-owned enterprise, government-owned Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation ...

( Tamsui Line, Red Line)

Events

The stadium has hosted a number of concerts by internationally renowned music stars. The King of Pop

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

performed two sold-out concerts at the stadium on October 18 and 22 1996, during his

History World Tour The ''HIS''tory World Tour was the third and final worldwide solo concert tour by American singer and recording artist Michael Jackson, covering Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and North America. The tour included a total of 82 concerts spanning ...

(attendance : 98.000).

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald (American musician), Hugh McD ...

performed at the stadium on April 28, 1995, during

These Days Tour These Days Tour was Bon Jovi's concert tour during 1995-96. Van Halen opened as a special guest for Bon Jovi on twenty of the European stadium dates during the second leg promoting their album ''Balance''. The last of the three Wembley Stadium gi ...

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

pop star

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

performed there on December 4, 2008, as part of her KylieX2008 world tour.

Closure

In March 2007, Taipei City Government announced that Yuanshan will be replacing

Guandu Plain Guandu may refer to: *Battle of Guandu (官渡之戰), a battle between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao in the Three Kingdoms Period *Guandu Station (關渡站), a station of the Taipei Metro *Guandu District (官渡区), Kunming, People's Republic of China ...

as the main venue of the 2010 International Garden and Horticulture Exhibition to be hosted in Taipei. In their plan, Chungshan Soccer Stadium, being one of the major parts of the Yuanshan area, would serve as the primary venue of the exhibition featuring indoor activities. As a result, the stadium was closed on July 1, 2008. However, the

made a statement in its official site on June 29, 2007, opposing the proposal. They stated that Chungshan Soccer Stadium was the only FIFA-approved stadium in Taiwan at present. If it is closed, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) would lose its home ground and would not be allowed to hold international football competitions. Though there were several ongoing construction projects for new stadiums, including the World Games Stadium for

World Games 2009 The 2009 World Games () the eighth edition of the World Games, were an international multi-sport event held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (under the name Chinese Taipei) from 16 July 2009 to 26 July 2009. The games featured sports that are not contested i ...

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung City (Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsi ...

and the new

Taipei Municipal Stadium The Taipei Municipal Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Taipei, Taiwan. The original stadium, built in 1956, was used mostly for track and field events. Entertainer Michael Jackson performed two concerts there during his ''Dangerous World ...

for

2009 Summer Deaflympics The 2009 Summer Deaflympics (), officially known as the XXI Summer Deaflympic Games and commonly known as Taipei 2009, is an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 5 to 15 September 2009 in Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China). I ...

. But both cannot be complete prior to the end of 2008. On September 30, 2007, Taipei City Mayor

Hau Lung-pin Hau Lung-pin (; born 22 August 1952) is a Taiwanese politician. As a member of the New Party, he was elected to the Legislative Yuan in 1995, and resigned his seat to lead the Environmental Protection Administration in 2001. Hau stepped down ...

committed to delay the stadium's closing schedule to the end of 2008 for hosting

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (O ...

and

2008 AFC Challenge Cup The 2008 AFC Challenge Cup football tournament was organised by AFC and was hosted by India.The tournament was played from 30 July – 13 August 2008. India won the final against Tajikistan. India was also the winner of the fair play award and ...

qualifiers. The stadium was closed on November 28, 2008.

Transportation

The stadium was accessible within walking distance South East from

of the

Gallery

Image:Inside the Zhongshan Soccer Stadium.jpg,

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...

played home against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification The 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification was held in late 2005 and the final qualification round was held from February to November 2006 with 25 nations participating. For the first time, the defending champions (Japan), did not earn an automatic ...

. Image:Zhongshan Soccer Stadium.jpg, Zhongshan Soccer Stadium

References

External links

Chungshan Soccer Stadium

Zhongshan Soccer Stadium at Taipei Sports Office official site

Pictures at World Stadiums

StadiumDB.com pictures
{{Taipei sports venues 1989 establishments in Taiwan 2008 disestablishments in Taiwan Former buildings and structures in Taiwan