Shanghai, China's economic center where some of the 2008 Olympic football matches will be held, is quite enthusiastic about the Games, although the international focus will be on Beijing.

On October 28, a non-profit concert tour for the 2008 Olympic Games came to the city. Before that, Shanghai held other Olympic-themed activities such as charity sales and an Olympics knowledge competition via mobile phone short messages.

Shanghai will hold the nine preliminary football games from August 6-15, 2008, including six men's matches and three for women. It might seem that Shanghai will not make much of a contribution to the big sports event, but "preliminary matches often make the first impression on the world," according to Qiu Weichang, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Sports Bureau. Thus, the city will set high standards in preparing for the games to bring them to the level of the main competition in Beijing.

"Shanghai will demonstrate the city's glamour while serving the Olympic Games by providing first-class services for the football matches," said Qiu.

On February 20, Shanghai began full preparatory work for staging the matches, including the organization of the games, ticket sales, transportation and all types of training.

The nine matches will be held in Shanghai Stadium, which was built in 1997, when the Eighth National Games was held there. It can hold about 80,000 people, so it is also called the "80,000 People Stadium." The building has played an important role in the life of Shanghai residents over the last 10 years.

The city will invest 200 million yuan to renovate the stadium. In order to meet the requirements for the Olympic Games, the football field needs to be flattened and the big projection screen needs to be changed. "The media section especially needs to be improved," said Qiu.

"The renovation focuses on the process of providing information and the integration of various functional sections," said Lu Shen, Secretary-General of the Shanghai Football Association.

"The renovation work is a big project which needs strict planning and examination, and the work is about to be started within the year," Lu added.

Rehearsal for the Games

The Shanghai Stadium will host the Special Olympics in October next year. The organizing committee of the Special Olympics wants the stadium to be closed in July for three months so that it can take on a brand new look when the Special Olympics opens. "We want to renovate the stadium once and for all, avoiding duplicate construction," Lu said.

As the backup field, Hongkou Football Stadium also needs to be refurbished. "We have to have a backup field in case the main football field is affected by rain or its grass is damaged," explained Lu.

In September 2007, the Women's Football World Cup will be held in Shanghai. The matches will be played in Hongkou Football Stadium, so this event is considered a rehearsal for the Olympics. "We will work out a scientific operating system and in case we have problems during the Women's World Cup, we'll draw lessons and make corrections to provide better services for the 2008 Olympic Games," said Qiu of the Shanghai Sports Bureau.

Shanghai is working closely with the Beijing Organizing Committee and International Olympic Committee (IOC) on such issues as reception and security. Staff members of the Beijing Organizing Committee have been invited to participate in the sports events in Shanghai to provide advice on improvement.