- Address: Dongjiangwan Road, Shanghai
- Country: China
- Capacity: 33,000
- Opened: 14 March 1999
- Main use: Football
- Tenants: Shanghai Shenhua (football)
Extra stadium info – Hongkou Football Stadium
The construction of the Hongkou Football Stadium, which is also used for concerts, started in 1998. The stadium hosted the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup final, which was won by the women’s national football team of Germany after defeating Brazil. A crowd of 31,000 showed up for the match. Shanghai Shenhua, the first sports club from Shanghai with 1 million followers on its main social media page, are the tenants of the Hongkou Football Stadium. In 1995, they won the professional Chinese top-flight football league and they drew an average home attendance of 27,000 during that domestic league season, but they were stripped of the title in 2013 because of a match-fixing scandal.
Didier Drogba
Shanghai Shenhua signed Didier Yves Drogba Tébily, a world famous striker who was born in the city of Abidjan, in 2012. Didier Drogba played professional football for Le Mans FC, EA Guingamp, Olympique de Marseille and Chelsea before he signed with Shanghai Shenhua. In 2012, he won the UEFA Champions League with Chelsea FC after scoring twice in the final against FC Bayern München from Germany. Drogba ended his professional football career with the Phoenix Rising from the United States. He was 40 years old when he ended his professional football career. Didier Drogba played a vital role in the peace process in the Côte d’Ivoire, the country were he was born.
Carlos Tévez
In 2016, Shanghai Shenhua signed another world famous player, when Carlos Tévez joined the club. It became the most expensive transfer ever for a football club from Asia. In China, Tévez became one of the highest-paid athletes in the world. He played for the Boca Juniors, SC Corinthians Paulista, West Ham United, Manchester United, Manchester City and Juventus before he moved to Shanghai Shenhua. Tévez won the FIFA Club World Cup with the English club Manchester United in 2008. He was substituted in the final against Liga Deportiva Universitaria from Ecuador after 51 minutes.
The Boca Juniors and the national football team of the Argentine Republic
Carlos Alberto Tévez started and ended his professional football career with the Argentine club Boca Juniors. The Boca Juniors won several world championship titles. They won their first world championship title in 1977. Tévez played numerous matches for the national football team of the Argentine Republic, one of the first national football teams with a FIFA World Cup title.
