Jockey Club Kitchee Centre

Jockey Club Kitchee Centre
Jockey Club Kitchee Centre
Kitchee Centre 、Shek Mun Centre、JCKC
Jockey Club Kitchee Centre in May 2015
Interactive map of Jockey Club Kitchee Centre
LocationSha Tin District Shek Mun 23 On Muk Street
OwnerKitchee SC
OperatorKitchee SC
Surfaceartificial turf
Construction
BuiltMay 2014
Opened9 September 2015
Tenants

The Jockey Club Kitchee Centre is the training ground of Kitchee, a Hong Kong Premier League football club. It is located in Shek Mun, Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. The facility was officially opened on 9 September 2015. [1]It was funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club and is named in recognition of its support.[2]

Covering 15,050 square metres, the centre serves as the training base of Kitchee and the Kitchee Academy.[3] It also accommodates youth football training programmes for children aged 6 to 12 and provides facilities for the Professional Football Development Scheme operated by Tung Chi Ying Memorial Secondary School, which is recognized by Hong Kong’s Education Bureau.

History

Investment and construction

Overlooking the Jockey Club Kitchee Center

On 5 July 2012, So Cheung Tak, Executive Director of Charities of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, announced that more than HK$44 million would be donated through the Club’s Charities Trust to the Kitchee Foundation for the construction of the Jockey Club Kitchee Centre in Shek Mun, Sha Tin. The project was estimated to cost HK$49 million,[4] while annual operating and management expenses of between HK$5 million and HK$7 million were to be borne by Kitchee Sports Club.[5][6]

gym

On 16 October 2012, Tom Fox, then commercial director of Arsenal, presented Kitchee with a donation of HK$780,000 in support of the construction of the Jockey Club Kitchee Centre.[7]

locker room

On 29 July 2013, Kitchee invited Manchester United, a club in the English Premier League , to visit Hong Kong to hold an exhibition match. Together with a charity gala held the previous evening and related fundraising activities, more than HK$2 million was raised for the centre.[8]

Medical Room

On 22 May 2014, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Jockey Club Kitchee Centre. Groundbreaking took place in 2014.[9][10] Construction was expected to take approximately seven and a half months, with completion scheduled for December 2014. The total project cost had increased to HK$76 million.[11]

Completed

The Jockey Club Kitchee Centre was completed and officially opened in July 2015.[12]

Typhoon Mangkhut

On 16 September 2018, Super Typhoon Mangkhut caused severe flooding at the Jockey Club Kitchee Centre, damaging its facilities and rendering the offices and pitches unusable. Kitchee temporarily relocated its operations to other venues from 17 September.[13] Following nearly six months of repair works, including the replacement of the artificial turf, the centre reopened in mid-March 2019.

Expansion project

On 28 March 2018, Kitchee announced a HK$20 million expansion of the Jockey Club Kitchee Centre. The project involved the construction of a second storey and the establishment of the Kitchee–CUHK Sports Medicine Clinic.[14]

On 12 July 2022, Kitchee stated that the expansion project was close to completion. The redevelopment included a nutrition restaurant and CUHK Medical Centre@Kitchee, a medical facility operated in partnership with the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Planned since 2017, the project was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Located on the ground floor of the centre, the medical facility cost more than HK$12 million and was financed by Kitchee. Managed by the orthopaedic team of CUHK Hospital, it provides orthopaedic and physiotherapy services and includes facilities for physical assessment, rehabilitation and sports training.[15]

Facility

The centre comprises a football pitch complex and a service building complex. The pitch complex features a multi-purpose artificial turf field measuring 178 by 70 metres. The field may be configured as four seven-a-side pitches, two reduced-size eleven-a-side pitches, or a combination of one standard eleven-a-side pitch and one seven-a-side pitch.[3]The facility has a capacity of approximately 120 users at one time.[16]The service building complex consists of five buildings containing changing rooms, referee rooms, a parents’ lounge, medical rooms, offices, a convenience store and storage facilities.[17]

The centre’s facilities are shared among youth development programmes, Kitchee’s first team and community users. [3]Around one-third of the available training time is allocated to youth football activities, including programmes run by the the Kitchee Academy and the Professional Footballer Development Scheme of Tung Chi Ying Memorial Secondary School. A further one-third is reserved for first-team training, with the remainder available for public use by residents of Sha Tin.[18]

The centre operates daily between 08:00 and 23:00. It offers 67 weekly booking sessions and records approximately 3,417 usage sessions annually.[19][20][21]

Dispute

In October 2016, the government proposed rezoning the site of the Jockey Club Kitchee Centre for subsidised housing development. As the centre had been in operation for only one year, the proposal drew opposition from the sports sector. The Planning Department subsequently released a revised Outline Zoning Plan that removed the site from the proposed rezoning scheme.[2]However, the plan stated that the government would continue to identify alternative sites for the possible relocation of the football training centre.[22]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "傑志中心慶啟用10周年 與卡塔爾青訓學院研訓練 - 20250910 - 體育". 明報新聞網 - 每日明報 daily news (in Traditional Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 September 2025. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  2. 1 2 "HKJC donation and project announcement". Kitchee Sports Club.
  3. 1 2 3 "Jockey Club Kitchee Centre". Kitchee Sports Club. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
  4. ↑ "阿仙奴表演賽賀「賽馬會傑志中心」成立- 馬會新聞 - 馬會知多少 - 香港賽馬會". corporate.hkjc.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  5. ↑ "傑志﹕倘未轉會也訪港 - 足球 - 新浪網". m.soccer.sina.com.hk. Archived from the original on 23 May 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  6. ↑ "Kitchee to get youth training centre". South China Morning Post. 6 July 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  7. ↑ "阿仙奴78萬回贈傑志搞青訓", Oriental Daily News (in Chinese), 17 October 2012, retrieved 11 June 2026
  8. ↑ "球場內外 - 波經". football.on.cc (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Archived from the original on 23 May 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  9. ↑ "Break Ground for Jockey Club Kitchee Centre". Kitchee Sports Club. 22 May 2014.
  10. ↑ "Jockey Club supports youth football training centre development". The Hong Kong Jockey Club.
  11. ↑ "球場內外 - 波經". football.on.cc (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Archived from the original on 23 May 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  12. ↑ "Break Ground / Opening Ceremony details". Kitchee Sports Club.
  13. ↑ "【山竹襲港】職員發現「自來魚」 傑志中心下月重開無期". Apple Daily 蘋果日報. Archived from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  14. ↑ "賽馬會傑志中心擴建成立運動醫學診所". www.kitchee.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  15. ↑ "港超｜傑志中心擴建 醫務中心及營養餐廳啟用 伍健冀小將注重飲食自律 (18:46) - 20220712 - 體育". 明報新聞網 - 即時新聞 instant news (in Traditional Chinese). Archived from the original on 24 July 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  16. ↑ [Jockey Club Kitchee Youth Training Centre to be completed in a year and a half] *Sing Tao Daily*, 6 July 2012
  17. ↑ "傑志簽約 尹佩斯須訪港". Apple Daily 蘋果日報. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  18. ↑ Metro Publishing Hong Kong Limited. "馬會撥款建足訓中心". MetroDaily 都市日報. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  19. ↑ "F1羅斯保四奪「竿位」 - 星島日報網頁". std.stheadline.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  20. ↑ Metro Publishing Hong Kong Limited. "馬會撥款建足訓中心". MetroDaily 都市日報. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  21. ↑ [Hong Kong Jockey Club Donates HK$44 Million to Build Kit Chee Centre] Sing Tao Daily, 6 July 2012
  22. ↑ "正反論壇：擬收傑志中心地 覓地起樓惹激辯". on.cc東網 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). 22 October 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.