The national football team plays Australia, and Hangzhou is ready!

Special correspondent Xu Yi reports Last Friday night, the national football team flew to Hangzhou by charter flight from Saudi Arabia, and many Hangzhou fans spontaneously went to Xiaoshan International Airport to pick up the plane. When the national football team arrived in Hangzhou, they fully felt the enthusiasm of Hangzhou fans. On the 25th, the international players will further experience the warm atmosphere, and more than 67,000 tickets for the national football team against Australia have been sold, which will set a record for the attendance of Chinese football events.

The lights of the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium were replaced with "Chinese red", and a red lotus flower looked particularly dazzling in the night - Hangzhou announced in this way: The national football team will play the Australian team on Tuesday night, and Hangzhou is ready!

In the past, the ball market in Hangzhou was not very popular, but it has changed in recent years. Zhejiang FC's fan culture construction has attracted more fans to the stadium, and the post-Asian Games era has also made more fans willing to spend money to watch football matches. This time, the Hangzhou ball market inadvertently set a new record.

The ticket price of this game is divided into 6 levels, which are 280 yuan, 480 yuan, 680 yuan, 880 yuan, 1080 yuan and 1380 yuan, and on the 7th of this month, the tickets are finally on sale. One minute after the ticket was opened, multiple platforms displayed "Missing Ticket Registration". It is said that in 15 minutes, all platform tickets have been sold out. Some fans said that they were not left with such a long time to grab tickets at all, "it felt like they were all over in a second".

Box tickets went on sale at 5 p.m. on the 14th of this month, and some of the adjusted away team regional tickets were sold to home fans at 10 p.m. on the 20th of this month. Relevant parties expect that the ticket revenue of this game will exceed 50 million. Recently, the most supple commodity in Hangzhou is the ticket for the national football team against Australia, and many fans who did not grab the ticket are still trying to find a way, and the fans think that "such a high-standard football game is placed in Hangzhou, and it is really a pity that you can't go to see it." ”

Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium is the opening and closing ceremony venue of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, with 80,800 fixed seats, and is a large stadium in China second only to the National Stadium (Bird's Nest) in terms of seats. With more than 67,000 tickets sold, the match will set a new record for attendance at a Chinese football event. The previous match with the highest attendance in Chinese football was Jiangsu Shuntian's 1-1 draw with Guangzhou Evergrande in 2012, which was flooded with 65,769 spectators at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center.

The last time the national football team played an official match in Hangzhou was in the 2010 Asian Cup qualifiers.

On December 23 last year, the Chinese Football Association officially announced that the home match between the national football team and the Australian team in the World Preliminary Tournament was settled in Hangzhou. Hangzhou was able to win this time because it has its own advantages, such as developed economy, superior hardware, a large number of fans that can accommodate the stadium, and the venue infrastructure and event supporting services have been tested by international competitions at the Asian Games level. In particular, the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center, the main venue of the Asian Games, "Big Lotus", hosts the home event of the national football team, which can effectively "reuse" the Asian Games venues and continue to give full play to the experience advantages accumulated in the competition. Hangzhou has passed the various light shows tested by events such as the Hangzhou Asian Games and the Chinese Super League, which is enough to take on the task of creating an atmosphere when the national football team plays at home.

For this game, Hangzhou attaches great importance to it. In the middle of this month, the mayor of Hangzhou, Yao Gaoyuan, personally presided over the mobilization and deployment meeting of the Hangzhou Division in the third phase of the FIFA 2026 World Cup Asian Qualifiers. Yao Gaoyuan stressed at the meeting that it is necessary to comprehensively benchmark the requirements of the competition, fully learn from the good experience and good practices of the Hangzhou Asian Games, do a solid job in the preparation of various competitions, and show the city image of "the most beautiful Hangzhou" with warm and thoughtful service. At the meeting, the Office of the Organizing Committee, the Competition Department, the Comprehensive Support Department, and the Venue Support Department reported on the preparations for the competition.

After fully affirming the results of the previous stage, Yao Gaoyuan pointed out at the deployment meeting that the Asian Qualifiers for the World Cup, as an international A-level event, embodies the attention of Asian countries and carries the dreams of fans across the country. Hangzhou should ensure efficient coordination with the smoothest command and dispatch, ensure that the guarantee is in place with the most comprehensive venue operation, ensure the excitement of the event with the best quality competition organization, ensure the joy of guests and friends with the most thoughtful service guarantee, ensure absolute safety with the most meticulous emergency plan, and present a high-standard football event for the majority of fans in the best state.

For the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center, the World Preliminary Tournament is the first continental event ushered in in the "post-Asian Games" era, and it is also the highest-level football event held so far, which is undoubtedly a test. Since the official announcement of the game in Hangzhou in December last year, the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center has fully entered the preparatory period for the World Preliminaries, during which no other large-scale activities have been undertaken.

Stadium renovation and turf maintenance are top priorities. In terms of stadium renovation, the renovation of the players' passage, the renovation of the media stands, the construction of the camera platform and the removal of the flagpole have all started early and completed the acceptance, and the lighting of the training venue has been completed on time. The lawn of the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium has been carefully maintained, and it has reached the inspection standard and completed the acceptance last week. Sha Jianqin, vice president of Hangzhou Binjiang Olympic Sports Operation Company, revealed that since the start in January and the completion of the transplantation and laying of the turf in advance on February 14, the daily work of the lawn includes: fertilization, watering, pruning, and synchronizing grass growth, temperature and humidity, water seepage rate, fertilizer amount and other indicators to lawn experts, and dynamically adjusting the maintenance strategy according to expert suggestions.

In January this year, the head coach of the national football team, Ivan, has led the team to comprehensively inspect the "Big Lotus" outdoor training ground, the main stadium, the players' passage and the athletes' locker room and other venue facilities, and highly affirmed the lawn maintenance and venue renovation. Ivan led the team to step on the big lotus for training, and I believe that he will be full of praise for the improvement of the venue.

There are nearly 70,000 fans at the game, so transportation will be a "big project". Hangzhou, which has held the Asian Games and has experience in the end of many large-scale concerts, has made a plan for this early. On the day of the competition, special buses, "Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center" and "Qianjiang Century City" and other surrounding subway stations will be arranged to arrange sufficient spare buses to ensure the smooth evacuation after the competition.

Tickets for this game have been sold out, and according to relevant data, more than 60% of foreign fans will come to Hangzhou, which is a huge boost to Hangzhou's economy.

For this game, Hangzhou has launched a variety of peripheral products with the theme of the home stadium of the national football team in the World Preliminaries, and there will be a special official peripheral sales point for the national football team on the day of the game.

Hangzhou has also prepared a "gift package" for fans from all over the country, who can not only enjoy discounts on accommodation, food and attractions with tickets to the event, but also receive recommended routes for 1 day and 1 night and 2 days and 1 night. From the dawn of the 5,000-year-old civilization of Liangzhu to the fireworks in the city by the canal, from the green waves of Longjing Tea Mountain to the sound of oars and lights in Xixi Wetland, during the home stadium of Hangzhou in the National Football World Preliminaries, the six theme routes will be used as a link to make the passionate event and the poetic habitat of flowers go hand in hand - invite fans to participate in the experience, watch the passion of football, feel the elegance of Song Yun, and enjoy the spring scenery.

Recently, Zhejiang Province issued the "Implementation Plan for Vigorously Boosting and Expanding Consumption", which mentions that it is necessary to vigorously develop the event economy, requiring that "in 2025, more than 30 international sports events, more than 200 national sports events, and more than 1,000 provincial and municipal events will be held". This high-level world preliminary tournament will undoubtedly become a "model" for Hangzhou to develop the event economy.

Recently, the number of air tickets booked to Hangzhou has skyrocketed, and the number of hotel orders in Hangzhou has increased significantly, especially in the hotels near the "Big Lotus", which have become "hard to find".

The World Preliminary Tournament has even changed the landscape of Hangzhou's tourism industry. After seeing the popularity of football, some travel agencies have the idea of wanting to do "sports + tourism". Zhejiang Tourism Investment Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhejiang Tourism Investment") took advantage of the east wind to launch a special "travel with football" theme itinerary. During this World Preliminaries, Zhejiang Tourism Investment undertook part of the reception of fans across the country, including the Dragons. Mr. Su of Zhejiang Tourism Investment said: "After feeling the spring breeze of football, next, we also plan to launch the Indonesian away viewing route and the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup exclusive viewing route, and strive to make 'sports + tourism' bigger and stronger." ”

According to data, Shenyang attracted nearly 50,000 fans when it was the home of the national football team in June last year, of which 40,000 fans came from other places, which directly drove consumption to 300 million. More fans will come to Hangzhou in this World Preliminary Match, and their benefits to Hangzhou are expected to exceed those of Shenyang.