Olympic Games 2020 - Soccer オリンピックのサッカー競技

An old Olympic competition

Football has been an Olympic competition since almost the beginning of the modern Olympic Games. It was present from the 1st edition of 1896, but as a simple demonstration sport, before becoming an Olympic discipline during the following edition of 1900.

For most of the last century, only amateur footballers were allowed to participate in the games, until 1988 when the rule was dropped.

Tokyo Metropolitan Stadiums

The new National Olympic Stadium is located in Shinjuku Ward. The old Olympic stadium, which had notably been the main stadium during the 1964 Olympic Games, was demolished in 2015 to make way for this new stadium located in Kasumigaoka.

With a capacity of 68,000 seats (more than 80,000 with the addition of temporary seats), it is the largest stadium in the competition. The opening and closing ceremonies of the games will also take place there.

• Address : 10-2, Kasumigaokamachi, Shinjuku, 160-0013 Tokyo

The Tokyo Stadium, located in Chofu, in the west of the metropolis, is beyond the 23 wards of the Tokyo municipality. It is the stadium of the FC Tokyo football club.

This stadium of 49,000 people, which is not just a setting for football, will also host several matches of the Rugby World Cup which is organized in 2019 in Japan.

• Address:376-3Nishimachi, Chofu, 182-0032 Tokyo

Saitama Stadium, also known as Saitama Stadium 2002 because was built as part of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by Japan and South Korea.

The stadium, which is located in the city and prefecture of the same name, is one of the largest stadiums dedicated specifically to soccer in all of Asia.

• Address: 2 chome 1 Misono, Midori Ward, Saitama, 336-0967, Japan

And finally the International Stadium of Yokohama (or Nissan Stadium when the naming applies), in Kanagawa prefecture, in the south of Tokyo.

• Our advice: A day in Yokohama

Yokohama F Marinos club stadium is the largest stadium in Japan, built in the mid-1990s, with a capacity of 72,327 people.

• Address :3300 Kozukue-co Kohoku-ku, 220-0036 Yokohama

Ibaraki in the spotlight

Football during the Olympic Games will also be lived outside the metropolis. Thus, the Ibaraki prefecture will host matches of the competition in the Kashima stadium, located on the Pacific coast of the prefecture, about a hundred kilometers from the center of Tokyo.

The stadium, built just before the 2002 World Cup, can accommodate 40,728 spectators.

• Address :26-2 Jinkoji, 314-0007 Kashima

The northern stadiums

Further up in Tohoku, the Miyagi Stadium, located in Rifu in the suburbs of Sendai (Miyagi prefecture), is another stadium built for the 2002 World Cup which will be reused as part of the Olympic soccer events.

The 49,000-seat ground is surrounded by an athletics track allowing it to be used in other settings than that of the round ball. The stadium is in the shape of a crescent, to evoke the popular historical figure, the daimyo Date Masamune.

• Address : 40-1 Sugayatate, Rifu-cho, 981-0122 Miyagi

Finally, Hokkaido will also have the right to admire the competition within the Sapporo Dome, the stadium in the city of Sapporo.

With a capacity of nearly 42,000 seats, it is the first stadium in the world to have an aero-slippery pitch, and one of only two in the world with a roof, to adapt to the particular climatic conditions of the region. The Sapporo Dome will also be the scene of rugby matches during the 2019 World Cup.

• Address: 1 Hitsujigaoka, Toyohira, 062-0045 Sapporo