Japan Stadiums: Minami Nagano Sports Park Stadium, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture
Minami Nagano Sports Park Stadium (南長野運動公園総合球技場) in Nagano, Nagano Prefecture is the home ground of J.League side AC Nagano Parceiro and L.League club AC Nagano Parceiro Ladies. The ground is also known as Nagano U Stadium (長野Uスタジアム; Uスタ) for its distinctive U-shape, supposedly modeled on the Colosseum in Rome. The stadium also hosts local prefectural high school soccer and rugby fixtures.
History & Capacity
The original 6,000-capacity stadium dated from 2002 but was demolished and rebuilt from 2013 to meet J.League standards, It reopened in 2015. The now 15,491 capacity ground is part of the larger Minami Nagano Sports Park which also includes the Nagano Olympic Stadium. This hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. It now serves as a baseball stadium. The facilities in Minami Nagano Sports Park are all owned by Nagano City.
The ground has four stands with three of the stands double tier. The South Stand is single tier to allow sunlight to reach the natural turf playing surface even in winter. This stand is usually reserved for away supporters and has an electronic scoreboard. A scoreboard displaying team names, scores, a clock, and a 45-minute counter is installed under the roof of the north stand where the hard core, all-singing home fans gather.
The first tier seats are orange (blue on the south side stand), while the second tier seats are blue. The second tier of the East stand also features white seats, and when viewed from a distance, the word "NAGANO" is visible in white against a blue background.
Nagano is famous for its food and drink (sake and wine in particular) and the food stalls in the concourse offer some of the best stadium food and booze in Japan.
AC Nagano Parceiro
The name parceiro means "partner" in Portuguese. The club has its roots in Nagano Elza SC, a team of high school graduates, becoming AC Nagano Parceiro in 2011, the team's first season in the Japan Football League (JFL).
Parceiro joined the new J3 in 2011 where they have resided ever since with a best finish of third in the 2020 season.
The so-called 'Shinshu derby' sees Parceiro take on local rivals Matsumoto Yamaga FC.
Access - Getting There
The ground would be a long 50-minute walk from Shinonoi Station. On match days there is a free shuttle bus from the station (about 20 minutes).
By train from Nagano Station, Shinonoi is just one stop on the express Shinano south to Matsumoto, Shirojiri, Kiso-Fukushima, Nakatsugawa, Tajimi and Nagoya and less than 10 minutes' travel time. The local train takes about 15 minutes and there are four stops to Shinonoi.
Nagano city is also connected to Tokyo by Shinkansen (1 hour, 25 minutes).
Address: 320 Shinonoitofukuji, Nagano, 388-8002
Nearby Hotels
The winter sports, hiking and hot spring resort city of Nagano, 220 km northwest of Tokyo, offers a range of hotels and other accommodation options to suit most budgets.
Some recommendations include Hotel Livemax Premium Nagano Ekimae, a 3-star property at the station.
The HOTEL NEW NAGANO NeXT is a 3-star business hotel, a short walk from Nagano Station.
More J.League Stadiums
Sanga Stadium by Kyocera Kyoto
Tosu Stadium (Ekimae Real Estate Stadium)
Toyota Stadium Aichi Prefecture
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