The Sports Administration has approved a preliminary design plan for the construction of a soccer stadium in Taichung’s Nantun District (南屯) which, when completed, would be the first in the nation qualified to host tournaments organized by the Asian Football Confederation.
Facilities available for national soccer team players came under scrutiny following the women’s national team’s extraordinary performance last week in the Women’s Asian Cup in India.
Forward Su Yu-hsuan (蘇育萱), who scored a goal in the playoff game against Vietnam, told a post-game news conference that she hoped Taiwan builds more training facilities for soccer players so they can engage in high-quality training.
Photo courtesy of Chinese Taipei Football Association
Taiwan’s team was the only one in the Women’s Asian Cup without a fixed training venue.
The soccer stadium — to be built on the intersection of Yifeng Road Sec 3 and Longfu 9th Road — would be equipped with one 11-a-side natural grass pitch, one 11-a-side artificial turf pitch and two five-a-side artificial turf pitches, as well as other facilities, the Sports Administration said.
The stadium would be able to accommodate 7,254 spectators, with 6,000 fixed seats, 1,200 temporary seats and 54 spots for spectators in wheelchairs, the agency added.
The agency had consulted the Chinese Taipei Football Association and Taiwan Women’s Football Players Association about the design of the stadium, it said, adding that it would provide the Taichung City Government with a NT$500 million subsidy to build it.
Construction of the stadium is to begin at the end of this year and is expected to be completed by 2025, it said.
As part of the nation’s six-year soccer development program, the government has since 2017 used funds allocated through the Forward-Looking Infrastructure Development Program to subsidize Kaohsiung, New Taipei City, and Yilan and Hsinchu Counties in building and renovating soccer pitches, the agency said.
Except for pitches in Kaohsiung and Yilan County, which are still under construction, other facilities have been completed, it said.
Due to a lack of a fixed training venue, the women’s national team also faced other challenges when practicing for the qualifiers, local media reports said.
The nation’s two best soccer pitches — at the Taipei Municipal Stadium and the Kaohsiung National Stadium — are artificial grass fields.
Both venues were under renovation when the team was training for qualifiers, and the team had to constantly move around training facilities in Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi County, the reports said.
National team players were accused of illegally gathering when the nation raised the COVID-19 alert to level 3 due to the surge of locally transmitted cases and a ban on outdoor gatherings of 10 people or more was imposed.
Taiwan’s last chance to compete in the Women’s World Cup will be through a 10-team inter-confederation playoff tournament from Thursday to Wednesday next week, in which the national team must reach the top three.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS