Football District

The Football District project originates from the relations established with the municipalities of Quanzhoue Xiamen (Fujian province), Xi’An (Shaanxi) and Zhengzhou (Henan) with the aim of putting the best Italian know-how at the service of Chinese demand.
Among China’s current declared goals, it is of great importance to transform the country into a football powerhouse. To achieve this, the Government has announced a thirty-year strategic plan that includes short, medium and long-term milestones, including the intention of having a football field for every 10,000 inhabitants by 2030.
A new urban center capable of constituting a business opportunity for hundreds of companies that represent – in an organic and integrated way – the best of Italian quality and excellence in the sectors of greatest interest for the Chinese market, starting from football to arrive to culture, fashion, food, design, commerce and services.
The format of the Football District, designed to be replicable in different cities, involves the construction of a new, modern and multifunctional stadium, the fulcrum of the Football Academy, around which extensive commercial spaces will rotate for shopping malls but also museums, restaurants and multipurpose spaces. to provide a suitable environment for high quality entertainment. This is a project that proposes a new “format” based on some focal objectives:
• to convey access to the Chinese market of Italian football culture and the excellence of Made in Italy through the creation of a new district;
• to bring together, around football, the best offer of our country in the sectors of fashion, food, design, commerce and services, and enhance cultural exchange;
•to design a new multifunctional and technological urban center that favors the visibility of Made in Italy;
•to promote the creation of synergies between Italian and Chinese entrepreneurs, also through a start-up incubator.
Football is the central theme, around which are integrated:
• Football Academy – the “training”, intended as a support to the Chinese province in creating a new generation of footballers in response to the wishes of the government
• Made in Italy – a more widespread and specific knowledge of “original, certified and doc” Italian products
• Culture – interactive participation in bilateral cultural paths Italy-China, football-culture.

THE CAMPUS AND THE STADIUM
The District will be a sort of large green and eco-sustainable Campus of about 50 hectares in total, where children can study and train with the most modern and suitable support structures and a series of other related functions. Therefore, not only football fields, but also a school complex, accommodation and reception facilities for children and families. In particular, the Stadium, conceived as a structure with approximately 40,000 seats, will have the modern characteristics of a multipurpose space, both in support of the Football Academy and home to local and national championships. But it will be essential to trigger the “stadium effect”, maximizing the potential of the facility (naming, advertising, sponsorship, merchandising, commercial activities, partnerships) in line with the examples of the most modern European stadiums.
THE MUSEUM
A large museum designed around football and sports culture in general (with the gallery of champions such as Valentino Rossi, the history of great world football or great teams such as Inter), but in whose spaces, also thanks to the support of institutions and institutions (eg the Italy China Foundation), it will be possible to create interactive and multimedia art exhibitions capable of attracting and involving the new generations above all to promote cultural exchange between Italy and China.

ITALY MALL AND THE FOOD DISTRICT
A large shopping center: fashion, sportswear, football merchandising, design, gastronomy, leisure.
If Italy for the Chinese is the home of luxury, beauty, style and knowing how to live and if China is the largest market in the world with over double the potential consumers of the whole West put together, a great Italian-Chinese mall is certainly a guarantee of success, especially if structured to support the Campus and the football stadium.
The Italy Mall will be a large showcase where you can look and then buy, immediately on the spot, or later online: a distribution platform for direct sales and e-commerce, with guaranteed and certified “Italian DOC” products. But it will also be a place to try the experience of Italian food in the various dining options of the food district: bars, restaurants, street-food.
It could be a large contextualized space that will offer to Italian companies and producers a network capable of marketing, managing showrooms and logistics system, and at the same time, integrate experiences and know-how exchange between Italian and Chinese entrepreneurs, also through the development of a start-up incubator.

THE CONGRESS AND RECEPTIVE AREAS
Part of the format is also an area of services related to sports facilities, i.e. a conference center, high-level accommodation facilities with spa and wellness areas and a sports medical center.

THE EVENT SPACES
Multifunctional venues able to satisfy every type of need, ideal for press conferences, screenings, conferences, workshops, gala evenings.

ENTERTAINEMENT
An Entertainment Center with play areas designed for the youngest, at the service of the Football Academy, children and families.
THE ACCESS AND MOBILITY SYSTEMS
The area is equipped with various accesses connected to the local infrastructural system, with an internal road network for vehicular (in particular for logistics) and pedestrian connections. Large parking areas will be located throughout the area; alternative mobility systems with electric shuttles or people mover will connect the car parks with the various functional areas.

CREDITS

• Architectural Design: Giovanni Vaccarini Architetti

• Engineering and Project Management: Proger S.p.A.

• Project Team:
  Giovanni Vaccarini
  Stefano Mont Girbes
  Herman Carbonetti

• Client: China Football Commercial Promotion Co., Ltd. (CFCP)

• Location: China – Quanzhou and Xiamen (Fujian Province), Xi’an (Shaanxi Province), and Zhengzhou (Henan Province)