Chinese
Super League club Shanghai Shenhua - who made headlines by signing
Carlos Tevez on a £615,000-a-week contract in December - have seen part
of their stadium gutted by fire.
Flames
and thick black smoke billowed from the inferno at their
33,000-capacity Hongkou Football Stadium on Tuesday morning, with enough
damage caused to suggest the club may have to relocate for their next
home fixture.
Footage captured on
mobile phones showed firefighters battling to contain the enormous
blaze, which reportedly broke out at 8.30am local time and stopped
traffic.
A dramatic fire broke out at Shanghai
Shenhua's Hongkou Stadium on Tuesday morning, with flames and black
smoke billowing from a section of the arena
The fire broke out in one corner of the 33,000-capacity stadium, causing considerable damage inside and outside
Firefighters worked to successfully contain the blaze and fortunately nobody is believed to have been injured
Fortunately, nobody is believed to have been hurt in the incident, with the fire brigade successfully containing the fire.
The
authorities in Shanghai's Hongkou District are investigating the cause
of the blaze, with police suggesting it may have started in the
stadium's indoor rock-climbing facilities.
Shanghai
Shenhua, who are managed by Gus Poyet, may have to play their next home
game - against Changchun Yatai on April 16 - elsewhere if repairs can't
be carried out in time.
The damage to the stadium could force Shanghai Shenhua to play their next Chinese Super League game elsewhere
Shanghai are fourth in the Chinese Super League table, having won one and drawn one of their games so far
Fire crews tackled the blaze and managed to contain it to just one section of the stadium
The
club made worldwide headlines just before the New Year when they signed
Argentine striker Tevez - formerly of West Ham, Manchester United and
Manchester City - for around £71.6million.
With
his extraordinary £615,000-a-week salary, Tevez is by far the
highest-paid footballer in the world and the two-year contract reflects
the immense wealth available to Super League clubs.
Tevez
scored just 35 minutes into his debut, a 4-0 win over Jiangsu Suning,
on the opening day, and a subsequent 1-1 draw away to Tianjin Quanjian
has left them fourth in the early stages of the Super League season.
Their
Asian Champions League campaign, however, ended prematurely following a
2-0 home loss to Australian A-League side Brisbane Roar early last
month.
Hongkou Stadium was China's first professional football stadium when it was opened in March 1999