The refurbished Mong Kok Stadium opens today to much fanfare as Sunray Cave JC Sun Hei and Sham Shui Po become the first clubs to play at the much-anticipated, spanking new facility.
Taking two years to build and at a cost of HK$275 million, the famous Mong Kok Stadium finally opens its doors, giving the Hong Kong Football Association a suitable facility for First Division football.
Sun Hei president Chow Man-leung, whose club is one of two teams assigned Mong Kok to use as their home ground, was impressed by the state-of-the-art facilities after a brief practice session on Friday.
Citizen will stage their first home match against Biu Chun Rangers next week. 'The outlook is great, the facilities are fantastic,' said Chow after the session.
'We have played in many venues across Asia when representing Hong Kong in the AFC Cup before but many of those facilities pale in comparison to the renovated Mong Kok ground. I think we can use it to stage top quality international competitions in future.'
The project covers a wide range of upgrading work, including reconstruction of the spectator stands at four sides of the pitch with individual seats for 6,600 people and provision of lightweight covers for the stands on the south and north sides.
There are also the reprovisioning of the kiosks, offices, changing rooms, toilets and other ancillary facilities located under the spectator stands.