Sixteen teams will contest the Chinese Super League in 2025, but which of those teams can boast the largest capacity stadium across the Middle Kingdom?
Some teams have had their homes for a lengthy period of their history, with many fans holding fond memories of some iconic stadia across China for various reasons.
Others, however, have moved into new constructs and are looking to build new history. Others have even seen new stadiums built on the same site as older, more historic places and are keen to have the same level of success as before.
Regardless of a team’s previous history with their stadium, these are the five largest set to feature in the 2025 Chinese Super League season.
5. Wuhan Sports Center
Wuhan Sports Center has played host to a number of teams in the city of Wuhan, located in the east of the central province of Hubei.
It was once home to the original Wuhan FC, founded in 1954, which also held many names after turning professional in 1994. The club primarily played in Jia-A/China League One for the majority of its professional tenure but did have two spells in the top tier, including in the Chinese Super League between 2005 and 2008.
After the then-named Wuhan Optics Valley dissolved after finishing 16th in 2008, Wuhan Zall was founded in 2009 and joined the Chinese football pyramid in the third tier. Zall used the Wuhan Sports Center in two separate seasons, in 2013 and 2017.
The club was a Super League side in its first time at the center, but was relegated that season and was still in China League One when it returned four years later. Zall, then-named Wuhan Yangtze River, were dissolved in 2022.
Outside of hosting matches for the 2007 Women’s World Cup and the final of the 2015 EAFF East Asian Cup, Wuhan Sports Center has been home to Wuhan Three Towns since 2022, a year in which the club made its debut in the Chinese Super League after back-to-back promotions.
Three Towns were crowned champions of Chinese football that year and won the Super Cup at the start of the 2023 season. To date, Three Towns have been the most successful club during its time at the Sports Center.
The stadium, like so many others across China, are multi-use and are not dedicated to just football. As such, it is large enough to land fifth on this list with a maximum capacity of 54,000.
4. Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium
Fourth on this list is the Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium. Located in the city of Jinan, in the eastern Shandong Province, this multi-use stadium first opened in 2009.
It first hosted the 2009 National Games of China, seeing the host province claim the most gold and overall medals at the competition. From 2013, however, it has been the home stadium of one of the most successful professional football clubs in the Middle Kingdom, Shandong Taishan.
Shandong Taishan previously played at the 43,700 capacity Shandong Provincial Stadium, which was also home to China League One side Jinan Xingzhou before its dissolution in 2024.
Since playing at the Olympic Sports Center Stadium, Taishan have continued their storied history and tradition of winning silverware.
The team claimed the 2021 Chinese Super League title, its first since 2010, while finishing third place twice (2015, 2018) and second place three times (2013, 2022, 2023).
The club have also been very successful in cup competitions, with a run of seven consecutive seasons reaching the final of the Chinese FA Cup, including three wins between 2020 and 2022, a run which could be extended further in 2025.
The Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium sits fourth on this list with a maximum capacity of 56,808, although the current record attendance for Shandong Taishan came early in last year’s Chinese Super League season when 48,397 people watched the team take on Beijing Guoan.
3. Dalian Barracuda Bay Football Stadium
Third on this list is a stadium that does not have a particularly long or storied history to date, but does have the distinction of being the first football-specific stadium to appear.
The Dalian Suoyuwan Football Stadium, also known as the Barracuda Bay Football Stadium, only opened in 2023 after construction began in 2020. In its first year of existence, it played host to Dalian Professional in the Chinese Super League.
The club, which had begun life as Dalian A’erbin before being renamed to Dalian Yifang before settling on its final name, ultimately dissolved after that single season in Barracuda Bay, having suffered relegation after finishing 15th and parent company Wanda no longer wishing to invest.
Since then, the stadium has been home to Dalian Yingbo after the club moved from its original Jingzhou Stadium home.
The club, founded in 2021, is on the ascendancy and experienced a particularly successful campaign in 2024 as it claimed second place in China League One, thereby securing a place in the 2025 Chinese Super League.
With a modern, unique design, it will be hoped that its 63,677 capacity can come close to being filled in the coming seasons and put the city of Dalian back on the map of Chinese football after earlier success with Dalian Shide in the 1990s and early 2000s.
2. Workers’ Stadium
Second on the list is another football-specific stadium, but one that has the difficult task of replicating the memorable successes of its predecessor.
Workers’ Stadium, in the Chaoyang District of China’s capital city, Beijing, is home to The Imperial Guard, Beijing Guoan, and has been since it opened in 2023.
Located on the site of the old Workers’ Stadium, which hosted Beijing Guoan for almost every season from 1996 to 2019, the new iteration has yet to see the club reach the heights it had become accustomed to in the mid 2000s and early 2010s – a period that saw the team finish in the top three of the Chinese Super League for eight out of nine seasons, including winning the title in 2009.
So far, Beijing’s best finish came in the 2024 season when the team finished fourth in the league and reached the quarter finals of the Chinese FA Cup.
Guoan will be determined to reach the same heights of success at its shiny, new home and bring a crowd capable of filling its 68,000 capacity.
So far, a league fixture against Shandong Taishan last season has brought the largest crowd – 54,189 in total.
1. Shanghai Stadium
The largest stadium in the Chinese Super League this season is located in the Xuhui District of China’s largest city, Shanghai.
Aptly named Shanghai Stadium, it was once the home of reigning Super League champions Shanghai Port, between 2009 and 2019. It was also the home of Shanghai Shenhua in 1998, when the club claimed a Chinese FA Cup and Super Cup while also finishing second in the then-named Jia-A league.
While Hongkou Football Stadium has been the traditional home for Shenhua, dating as far back as the 1950s, it is at Shanghai Stadium that the blue side of Shanghai have opted to settle once again.
The club’s first season playing at Shanghai Stadium brought it success in the form of a Chinese FA Cup and a fifth-place finish in the league. Shenhua followed this up with a second-place finish in the league in 2024 while adding a Super Cup in both 2024 and 2025 already.
It’s hoped that the move back to Shanghai Stadium can coincide with more success for the blue half of the city, which has had to deal with the red half’s rise and victories in recent seasons.
The stadium itself first opened in 1997 and was used in the preliminaries during the 2008 Summer Olympics and even had the honour of hosting the 2015 Supercoppa Italiana, which saw Italian giants Juventus claim a 2-0 victory over Lazio.
It underwent renovations between 2020 and 2022, which increased its capacity from 56,842 to 72,000, making it the largest stadium in use in the top tier of Chinese football.