Tokyo Olympics organisers complete venue plan with football stadia announcement

The organising committee for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games has announced its final stadium plan for football matches, with all venues for the multi-sport showpiece having now been approved.

Football matches will be held at the Tokyo Stadium, Sapporo Dome, Miyagi Stadium, Ibaraki Kashima Stadium, Saitama Stadium and the International Stadium Yokohoma (pictured), along with Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium. Sapporo Dome, Miyagi Stadium, Saitama Stadium and International Stadium Yokohama also staged matches during the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which Japan co-hosted with South Korea.

The Games will use a total of 43 venues, including 25 existing facilities, 10 temporary sites and eight new permanent venues.

Tokyo 2020 said the number of venues utilising existing facilities has risen from around 40% to almost 60%, with an accompanying reduction of more than 200 billion yen (US$1.8 billion) in costs, partly down to the cancelled construction of three new permanent venues and changes made to other sites.

The increased use of existing venues is in line with the International Olympic Committee’s ‘New Norm’ policy, which was announced in February and outlines solutions to ensure a more efficient hosting model for the Games. The Olympic Stadium and other permanent venues will serve as community facilities following the Games.

Around 40% of venues are also located outside Tokyo, with football and baseball/softball matches to be hosted in Miyagi, Ibaraki and Fukushima, areas which were badly hit by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Speaking earlier this week, Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori explained “I am very happy that, with us having submitted our proposals for all football venues as a single request, we received approval for all of them today, which means the venues for all of the sports in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 have now been decided.

“As a result of various reviews, the percentage of venues utilising existing facilities has increased from around 40% at the time of our bid to almost 60% now.

“We will cooperate with neighbouring and regional municipalities in the use of their facilities and will host the Games together. We believe that these Games will prove to be a model for a sustainable Games while delivering the excitement of the Games to more people.”

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