World Cup Football - Match Venues - Seoul Stadium
The new hi-tech Sangam
Mapo-Ku Stadium in Seoul has a seating capacity of 63,930 seats and was
completed by November 2001. The stadium is part of the massive Millennium
redevelopment project on the Han River west of the city center, which
will include the world's tallest fountain and a massive circular gateway.
The monumental stadium – billed as the largest football-only ground
in Asia - incorporates a cutting-edge eco-friendly design, which utilizes
gas drawn from the old Nanji-do landfill site on which it has been constructed
for power and lighting the stadium at night. The pitch is 3 meters from
the nearest seats, there are 2 giant state-of-the-art video screens and
the spectacular roof and support masts are symbolic of a Korean kite and
a Han river boat.
Surrounding facilities will include a new multiplex cinema,
supermarkets and a swimming pool. The massive scale of the new development
made the stadium one of the wonders of the 2002 World Cup. The Japanese
government helped to fund the project with a loan of US$200m.