Greater Bay Area Sports Centre

Offering its local community sports facilities of the highest standards, the centre has also been designed to host a diverse programme of major national and international sporting events, as well as cultural performances, that can be easily accessed by all residents of the Greater Bay Area via Line 18 of the

Guangzhou Metro and the new Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge.

In addition to providing exceptional facilities for use by Nansha’s local schools and sports

clubs, the centre will continue China’s ongoing sports development programmes at regional and national levels. Providing the essential infrastructure for competitive athletes including those participating in all track and field events, the centre’s design optimises Nansha’s warm winters to create the ideal outdoor training facilities and conditions that can foster future legacies.

Situated within a 70-hectare park giving Nansha’s residents a variety of landscaped spaces on the banks of the river for sports and recreation, the Greater Bay Area Sports Centre incorporates a 60,000-seat stadium, a 20,000-seat arena for basketball and other indoor events, and a 4,000-seat aquatics centre with 50-metre swimming pool and diving well for training and competition.

Greater Bay Area Sports Centre nears completion

Now in its final stages of interior finishing and landscaping, the Greater Bay Area Sports Centre’s completion is planned for June in preparation for the China National Games in November 2025.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area is the world’s largest conurbation with its population anticipated to reach 100 million by 2030. Situated at the southern end of Guangzhou’s Nansha District on the western bank of the historic Pearl River, the Greater Bay Area Sports Centre will serve as an anchor to the new civic, business and residential district at the heart of the Greater Bay Area.

Offering its local community sports facilities of the highest standards, the centre has also been designed to host a diverse programme of major national and international sporting events, as well as cultural performances, that can be easily accessed by all residents of the Greater Bay Area via Line 18 of the Guangzhou Metro and the new Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge.

In addition to providing exceptional facilities for use by Nansha’s local schools and sports clubs, the centre will continue China’s ongoing sports development programmes at regional and national levels. Providing the essential infrastructure for competitive athletes including those participating in all track and field events, the centre’s design optimises Nansha’s warm winters to create the ideal outdoor training facilities and conditions that can foster future legacies. Situated within a 70-hectare park giving Nansha’s residents a variety of landscaped spaces on the banks of the river for sports and recreation, the Greater Bay Area Sports Centre incorporates a 60,000-seat stadium, a 20,000-seat arena for basketball and other indoor events, and a 4,000-seat aquatics centre with 50-metre swimming pool and diving well for training and competition.

The sports centre also provides extensive supporting facilities including athletes’ accommodation, as well as outdoor training pitches and running tracks that will support local government programmes which encourage increased sports participation in its schools to enhance the well-being of the region’s younger generations.

Located within Guangdong’s subtropical monsoon climate, this 70-hectare parkland on the banks of the river has been designed as an integral element of the district’s flood protection measures and will incorporate wetlands that manage excess water during extreme sea-level fluctuations.

The fluid forms of the centre’s architecture echo the tapering geometries evident in the hulls of the region’s traditional sailing ships that were initially designed during the Song Dynasty approximately a thousand years ago. These historic vessels established the Pearl River as China’s leading centre of global trade.

The sports centre also integrates environmental concepts from the local Lingnan vernacular architecture that include generous areas of sheltered spaces cooled with effective natural ventilation techniques during the region’s humid subtropical summer months.

The stadium’s roof has been designed as a system of layers that shelter the 60,000 spectators from rain and direct sunlight while also enabling rising warm air to be naturally vented outside the building envelope. This distinctive layered roof encircles the stadium, emulating the pleated silk structures of traditional Chinese fans.