On February 27, a grand soccer feast was staged at Hongkou Football Stadium. Shanghai Shenhua won the 2024 China Super Cup with a 1-0 victory over Shanghai Harbor. Reporter Yang Yi lamented on social media that Shenhua fans, who made up the majority of the 18,561 spectators, had unbreakable emotions for the stadium, and that the win was perhaps the best farewell to Hongkou Football Stadium.
Looking back at 2019, Shenhua had managed to win the F.A.C. Cup by defeating Shandong Taishan 3-0 at Hongkou Football Stadium, marking the third time in their history that they had won the honor. However, since the outbreak of the epidemic, the Chinese Super League has undergone a three-year regime change, with Hongkou Football Stadium, Shenhua's home ground, failing to host professional matches for three consecutive years in the 2020-2022 seasons.In the 2023 season, the Chinese Super League resumed its home-and-away system of matches, and Shenhua completed a shareholding reform of the club. At this time, Jiuzhi Sports, a subsidiary of Jiuzhi Group, once again injected new vitality into Shenhua.
Despite Shenhua's success in their new 80,000-strong stadium, many Shenhua fans still have a deep affection for Hongkou Stadium. Surprisingly, the first match of the 2024 season was played at the Hongkou Stadium, and after 1,543 days, Shenhua returned to the stadium and declared their return with a victory.
In the afternoon of February 25th in the Super Cup match, Shenhua although nominally the visiting team, but the scene of 18,561 spectators, Shenhua fans of the sound almost cover the other voices, reproduced when the "Devil's Home Stadium" style.
The Super Cup was held as a neutral stadium, but Hongkou Football Stadium welcomed Shenhua for the match. In order to prepare for the event, Hongkou Football Stadium has carried out a full range of facilities upgrades, including lighting system, fire, security monitoring system, news center multimedia system, big screen, sound reinforcement system, water supply and drainage pipes, electrical equipment, players' lounge water heater and so on. Forty-five minutes before the match, Lin Yi, Vice President and Secretary General of the Shanghai Football Association, personally awarded the Hongkou Football Stadium with the "Xiu Xiu 20 Award", marking the official opening of the tournament.
