The 3,000-square-meter market is seamlessly connected to the green field. The “Football Dream Carnival” in Shangcheng opens a new “Sports+” gameplay with 28,000 customers and leverages 179,000 yuan in consumption.
On the field, the opening match of the football league was being staged; off the field, the trendy market opened simultaneously – on January 18, even though the temperature in Hangzhou dropped, the Shangcheng District Sports Center ushered in “double heat.” At the south gate of the venue, the “Football Dream Carnival” football-themed weekend market is held here. Approximately 3000 square meters of spaceHere, more than 60 stalls are lined up in sequence. At the end of the market is the event ticket gate, where sports passion and market fireworks are seamlessly connected.
As the 2026 Hangzhou City Football League and the 3rd Hangzhou Football Association Cup get underway, how can the passion inside and outside the stadium be more deeply integrated into urban life, so that the “traffic” of the event can be transformed into real “retention” and consumption power? This “Football Dream Carnival” planned and hosted by Shangcheng Sports Industry Company, a subsidiary of Shangcheng District Cultural and Commercial Tourism Group, is a vivid attempt.
It is reported that the market closely cooperates with the league schedule and will last until March 15 (the market is closed during the Spring Festival holiday), a total of five weekends. The event revolves around “football culture + sports life + healthy entertainment”, integrating shopping, experience, entertainment and social networking, aiming to build a full-scene sports consumption ecology of “pre-game warm-up, game interaction, and post-game continuation”.
“We not only serve the fans watching the game, but also hope to promote football culture and convey the concept of healthy life to the citizens.” Zhang Huiyan, deputy general manager of Hangzhou Shangcheng Sports Industry Development Co., Ltd., said that six games are expected to be held here during the league. As a guaranteed venue for the Asian Games, Shangcheng Sports Center will continue to be open to the public after the games. This time, the unused space of the venue is used to create a market, precisely to further gather popularity and activate consumption.
The reporter saw at the scene that the market is divided into three major sections: the interactive experience area, the market exhibition and sales area, and the functional presentation area. The interactive experience area is undoubtedly the “popularity engine”. Football e-sports competitions, parent-child fun activities, 3D printing customization, football technology experience and other projects attract many families and young people to stop. “As soon as the children came in, they were attracted by football and e-sports and had a great time. I also picked up a few interesting cultural and creative items myself.” Ms. Chen, a citizen, said with a smile.
The exhibition and sales area on the side brings together various contents such as healthy light food, sports equipment, trendy cultural and creative products, and local charity. From specialty coffee to Internet celebrity desserts, from sports cultural and creative products to handmade goods, it meets all kinds of consumer needs. The market also launched an interesting “stamp collecting” activity, where citizens collect stamps through interactive games or consumption, which can be redeemed for gifts or lucky draws, and there are constant surprises.
Popularity directly drives consumption vitality. According to statistics, the market attracted a total of more than 28,000 customers in the first three days (January 16 to 18), driving total consumption to more than 179,000 yuan. Among them, the single-day passenger flow exceeded 20,000 on January 18, and the consumption exceeded 110,000 yuan, a significant jump from the previous two days, showing that the “event + market” model continues to increase its appeal to citizens.
It is worth noting that the 2026 Hangzhou City Football League Shangcheng Division (Shangcheng District Sports Center) officially introduced the video assistant referee system (Bundesliga VAR, Video Assistant Referee), becoming the first application pilot of this event in Zhejiang. This professional video playback system, which is widely used in top international events such as the World Cup and Champions League, marks a new level of fairness and professionalism for local events.
Starting from the market, the layout of Shangcheng’s sports industry continues to unfold. With the direction of “Sports + Technology + Culture and Tourism”, Shangcheng has successively built Hangzhou’s first national youth drone football competition base, launched the world’s largest youth Chinese nine-ball professional competition, and promoted the normal operation of Shi Fangmin’s professional billiards training base, National Fitness Center children’s physical fitness and other projects. In the future, renovation projects such as the Ding’an Road basketball court and badminton hall will also be unveiled in June this year.
(Original title: The 3,000-square-meter market is seamlessly connected to the green field. The “Football Dream Carnival” in the city opens a new “Sports +” gameplay with 28,000 customers and leverages 179,000 yuan in consumption)
Source: Hangzhou Daily Author: Reporter Lu Yejue Shangcheng Micro-Integration Circle Pan Yuge Weiping Editor: Chen Dong
