The Beijing Workers' Stadium Photo: VCG

In occasion of the upcoming match at the Beijing Workers’ Stadium, Chinese Super League team Beijing Guoan has opened ticket sales for the away fan section to the public. This is a first for the club, signaling a shift from previous informal practices among CSL clubs.

Guoan will host Shanghai Shenhua on Saturday, a match between the top two teams of the CSL.

Under a long-standing unwritten rule in the CSL, clubs have typically agreed to provide an equal number of away tickets for each other’s supporters — usually around 1,000 tickets. These are then distributed by the visiting club to its traveling fans. For example, in recent seasons, Guoan and Shenhua have each allocated 1,000 tickets for the other’s supporters when playing away.

Many fans have long reflected that 1,000 tickets are far from sufficient for marquee matches like this one. As a workaround, many away fans have purchased tickets in the home sections and then moved to the away fan area once inside the stadium, a practice often tolerated by security staff for safety reasons.

According to the paper.cn, an official from Shenhua said that they welcome Guoan’s decision to publicly sell tickets for the away section, saying it makes it much easier for traveling fans to secure seats. “Publicly selling away section tickets does make it more convenient for away supporters,” the Shenhua representative said. A Guoan club official added that the move is also about stimulating the local economy and meeting the growing demand for live football.

In fact, tickets for this much-anticipated match went on sale at 10 am on Sunday and sold out within two minutes, underscoring the immense interest in the match.

Across the CSL, most clubs keep 20 percent of stadium seats unsold to maintain a “safety buffer zone,” meaning the maximum sellable capacity is usually capped at 80 percent. For instance, Dalian, without this kind of restriction, has repeatedly seen attendances approach its maximum of 63,000 this season. Similarly, one much talked-about Jiangsu Football City League match in Nanjing on July 5, drew over 60,000 fans.

According to public records, Beijing Workers’ Stadium has a capacity of 68,000. Its current attendance record since reopening stands at 54,309 (exactly 80 percent of its capacity) having been set earlier this season during Guoan’s match against Shandong Taishan. 

However, according to club sources, the ticketing plan for this Beijing-Shanghai match may exceed the 80 percent limit, raising expectations that the game could set a new single-match attendance record for the stadium and the entire CSL season.

With two title contenders, a packed stadium, and a more inclusive ticketing approach, the July 19 match is very likely to set a new attendance record for Beijing Workers’ Stadium and even for this CSL season as a whole, per the Paper.

Global Times