'The soccer fever hit me when I stepped back from the heat wave' Why did the Tancheon Stadium get hot?

Sep 22, 2024

Suwon fans are cheering in the 2,100-seat away cheering section at Tancheon Stadium in Seongnam on the 22nd. Seongnam = Reporter Choi Man-sik

'The heat wave is gone, the soccer fever is here.'

On the 22nd, Seongnam Tancheon Stadium was hot with untimely 'Football fever'. Seongnam, the lowest in the K League 2 rankings, has only 2,800 spectators on average for the season 'What soccer fever?' There may be doubts, but the box office elements fit properly just in time.

Seongnam resumed the league in 21 days after the A-match break. It was the first time in nearly a month (28 days) in a home game. In addition, the sky (weather) also helped. Just four days ago, the all-time heat wave and tropical night warnings were issued during the Chuseok holiday, but the heat wave disappeared from the 21st. On this day, the Tancheon Stadium had a cool breeze reminiscent of autumn weather and the weather was perfect for watching soccer.

On top of that, the Seongnam club launched an interesting event called the 「Tancheon Non-Alcoholic Beer Festival」 to welcome customers. The club provided a variety of non-alcoholic beers and sparkling drinks to Seongnam citizens and soccer fans along with Seven Broglies. Various programs such as 'Beer Tasting Booth' and 'Beer Fast Drinking Contest', 'Bottle Cap Flying Contest' and 'Cheering Picket Making' added to the fun of visiting the soccer field with food trucks.

Seongnam supporters' seat at Tancheon Stadium on the 22nd, when the home game against Suwon was held. Seongnam = Reporter Choi Man-sik

There was another decisive factor in the box office. Seongnam's opponent in the 31st round of the K League 2 is Suwon Samsung. Although it has been relegated to the second division this season, it is a club famous for having a solid 'fandom' in the domestic soccer game.

As the club is famous for being the most away cheering squad regardless of time and place, Suwon fans almost occupied the Tancheonbeol on this day. For those who flock to Busan and Changwon, Seongnam, the next neighborhood, seems to have been like going to a home game.

According to the Seongnam club, all 2,100 seats in the south gate, which were allocated as away cheering seats, were sold out within an hour of the opening of the online reservation window. Thanks to this, the advance reservation for the match reached 5,000 seats. Considering the on-site sales, a total of 7,000 spectators were expected to gather. Although the total capacity of Tancheon Stadium is less than half that of 16,000 seats, it was rare considering Seongnam's performance and spectator performance in recent years.

On the 22nd, the road in the building between the sports center and the sports center of Tancheon Sports Center turned into a temporary parking lot. Seongnam = Reporter Choi Man-sik

The power of Suwon fans was also great. An hour and a half before the start of the game, a procession of cars heading to the parking lot of Tancheon Stadium also caused severe traffic jams around the area. It's a scene that you haven't seen this season. Due to the lack of parking space, one lane of the side road in the Tancheon Sports Center was used as a temporary parking lot.

Suwon's 'Cloud Cheer Group', which sat facing the Seongnam supporters' seats where about 400 people gathered, cheered for 'ttechang' 39 minutes before the game began, taking the lead in the fight and heating up the stadium.

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