Seoul Converts Football Pitch Into 14 Pickleball Courts at Han River Park

A football pitch that had been collecting dust along the Han River is now pickleball territory. Seoul's municipal government converted the underutilized field at Gwangnaru Hangang Park into a 14-court outdoor complex, with the facility opening in March 2026 as scheduled under Mayor Oh Se-hoon's Healthy City Seoul initiative.

The numbers tell the story of how quickly the sport has outpaced the city's existing infrastructure. Before this project, Seoul had just eight public pickleball courts: four at the Gangdong District reservoir and four at Seoul Forest. The Gwangnaru Hangang Park complex, spread across roughly 4,000 square meters (1,210 pyeong) of former football pitch, pushed that total to 22. Nearly tripling the city's public court count in a single project is a significant infrastructure statement, regardless of what sport is involved.

The Future Han River Headquarters oversaw construction, and an official from that body confirmed the project's final push: "Basic facilities on a site of about 4,000㎡ (1,210 pyeong) are in the final stage. We are proceeding with construction, aiming to open in March next year." The rationale for repurposing the football pitch was straightforward. The field saw limited use, and Seoul's pickleball community had grown fast enough to make that an easy trade-off.

The scale of the facility carries some competitive claims. Chosun Biz reported the Gwangnaru complex forms South Korea's largest dedicated pickleball facility. A separate assessment positions the project as making Seoul one of Asia's most prominent municipal suppliers of public pickleball court hours. Those are two distinct assertions framed differently, one national and one regional, and neither comes with a verified benchmark. What is verifiable: 14 courts on a single 4,000-square-meter site, purpose-built for the sport, with no equivalent in the country before this.

The conversion fits the pattern of how pickleball has been gaining traction across Asian cities, with municipal governments responding to demand by redirecting underperforming recreational land rather than building from scratch. Seoul just did it at a scale that will be difficult for other cities in the region to match in the near term. Details on operating hours, booking systems, and any programming tied to the facility's opening have not yet been confirmed by city officials.