Dongdaemun Stadium

The Dongdaemun Stadium, was a sports complex in Seoul, South Korea and included a multi-purpose stadium, a baseball park and other sports facilities. It was located near the Dongdaemun or Great East Gate and the surrounding Dongdaemun market and had many vendors selling athletics-related goods. It was demolished in 2008 to make way for the Dongdaemun Design Plaza & Park.

History

Construction on the main athletics stadium and baseball field began on May 24, 1925 and was opened for use in October 15, 1925 as the Kyungsung Stadium. (Kyungsung means Seoul) The venue was the main center for sports events in the city, and, along with the Kirim Stadium in Pyongyang, was one of the two venues used in the Kyungsung-Pyongyang inter-city soccer tournament in the 1930s.

The stadium was the location for mass celebrations of the end of Japanese colonial rule, as almost 250,000 citizens gathered at the venue on August 15, 1945, to celebrate the liberation.^[2]

Additional construction was undertaken in 1962 to modernize the two existing venues as well as create a swimming pool, volleyball courts and soft clay tennis courts. Floodlights were added to the baseball venue in 1966 and the athletics venue in 1968 to allow for nighttime sporting events.

Before demolition, the athletics stadium was used as a flea market where all types of both new and second hand goods were sold. It formed part of the massive Dongdaemun shopping district, which has been active for 57 years.

Facilities

Football

The main multi-purpose stadium remained the main center for sports events in Seoul until the Seoul Sports Complex was built for the 1988 Olympic Games. It was the home venue for the Korea Republic national football team from the 1950s to the late 1980s, though continued to be used into the 1990s until the last international match was played there, against Myanmar in 2000.

The 30,000-seat main stadium also hosted some football matches including Quarter-finals at the 1988 Summer Olympics and many matches of Korea Cup International Football Competition.^[3]

The inaugural match of the K League, the first professional football league in South Korea, was held at the athletics venue on May 8, 1983. Ilhwa Chunma (currently Seongnam FC), LG Cheetahs (currently FC Seoul) and Yukong Elephants (currently Jeju United FC) were based at the stadium until 1995, but with the decentralization policy in K League, they relocated to another stadiums in 1996.

Others

The inaugural match of the Korean baseball league was held at Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium in 1982.

See also

• Seoul World Cup Stadium
• Jamsil Olympic Stadium
• Mokdong Stadium
• Hyochang Stadium

Notes

References

• Stadium of dreams in K-League : 동대문 운동장 (Korean)

External links

• Seoul Sports Facilities Management Center (Korean)
• Seoul Sports Facilities Management Center
• Dongdaemun Stadium (Russian)
• World Stadiums

Olympic venues in association football 1900 Vélodrome de Vincennes 1904 Francis Field 1908 White City Stadium 1912 Råsunda IP, Stockholm Olympic Stadium (final), Tranebergs Idrottsplats 1920 Jules Ottenstadion, Olympisch Stadion (final), Stade Joseph Marien, Stadion Broodstraat 1924 Stade Bergeyre, Stade de Colombes (final), Stade de Paris, Stade Pershing 1928 Monnikenhuize, Olympic Stadium (final), Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel 1936 Hertha-BSC Field, Mommsenstadion, Olympiastadion (final), Poststadion 1948 Arsenal Stadium, Champion Hill, Craven Cottage, Cricklefield Stadium, Empire Stadium (medal matches), Green Pond Road, Griffin Park, Selhurst Park, White Hart Lane 1952 Helsinki Football Grounds, Kotka, Lahti, Olympic Stadium (final), Tampere, Turku 1956 Melbourne Cricket Ground (final), Olympic Park Stadium 1960 Florence Communal Stadium, Grosseto Communal Stadium, L'Aquila Communal Stadium, Livorno Ardenza Stadium, Naples Saint Paul's Stadium, Pescara Adriatic Stadium, Stadio Flaminio (final) 1964 Komazawa Olympic Park Stadium, Mitsuzawa Football Field, Nagai Stadium, Tokyo National Stadium (final), Nishikyogoku Athletic Stadium, Ōmiya Football Field, Prince Chichibu Memorial Football Field 1968 Estadio Azteca (final), Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Estadio Nou Camp, Jalisco Stadium 1972 Drei Flüsse Stadion, ESV-Stadion, Jahnstadion, Olympiastadion (final), Rosenaustadion, Urban Stadium 1976 Lansdowne Park, Olympic Stadium (final), Sherbrooke Stadium, Varsity Stadium 1980 Dinamo Stadium, Dynamo Central Stadium, Grand Arena, Grand Arena (final), Kirov Stadium, Republican Stadium 1984 Harvard Stadium, Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Rose Bowl (final), Stanford Stadium 1988 Busan Stadium, Daegu Stadium, Daejeon Stadium, Dongdaemun Stadium, Olympic Stadium (final) 1992 Estadi de la Nova Creu Alta, Camp Nou (final), Estadio Luís Casanova, La Romareda, Estadi de Sarrià 1996 Florida Citrus Bowl, Legion Field, Orange Bowl, RFK Memorial Stadium, Sanford Stadium (both finals) 2000 Stadium Australia, Brisbane Cricket Ground, Bruce Stadium, Hindmarsh Stadium, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Olympic Stadium (men's final), Sydney Football Stadium (women's final) 2004 Kaftanzoglio Stadium, Karaiskakis Stadium (women's final), Olympic Stadium (men's final), Pampeloponnisiako Stadium, Pankritio Stadium, Panthessaliko Stadium 2008 Beijing National Stadium (men's final), Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium, Shanghai Stadium, Shenyang Olympic Sports Center Stadium, Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium, Workers' Stadium (women's final) 2012 City of Coventry Stadium, Hampden Park, Millennium Stadium, St James' Park, Old Trafford, Wembley Stadium (both finals) 2016 Estádio Nacional de Brasília, Arena Fonte Nova, Mineirão, Arena Corinthians, Arena da Amazônia, Estádio Olímpico João Havelange, Maracanã (both finals)

Coordinates: 37°34′03″N 127°00′38″E / 37.56758°N 127.010595°E / 37.56758; 127.010595