Cheonan: The new home of national football teams had its official opening ceremony Tuesday, with the country's top sports officials on hand to mark the occasion.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Korea Football Park, located in Cheonan, some 90 kilometers south of Seoul, will serve as the training ground for all national football teams, offering six fields of natural grass and five other pitches of artificial turf. The venue is also home to a 3,200-seat stadium that can host international matches.

The four-story dormitory with 82 units for players also features treatment rooms, a fitness center, players' lounge, and video room, among other facilities. The training center had been in operation since last fall, with junior and senior national teams having already worked out there.

In addition to holding national team training sessions and youth football matches, Korea Football Park will also host seminars for coaches and referees, according to the Korea Football Association (KFA). "I am pleased to see the opening of Korea Football Park, which will usher in a new century for Korean football," KFA President Chung Mong-gyu said. "This will be more than just a training center. It will serve as the key hub of Korean football."

Chung also thanked the municipal government of Cheonan, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee for their administrative and financial support. The KFA teamed up with Cheonan and the province of South Chungcheong, where Cheonan is located, to cover the construction cost of more than 400 billion won (US$267 million).

Chung noted that under-23 national teams for Japan and the United States had recently trained at the Cheonan venue and they all marveled at the state-of-the-art conditions of Korea Football Park. "The opening ceremony marks a new beginning," Chung said. "We will establish a scientific training system based on artificial intelligence data and build a unique Korean player development model that can be shared with the rest of the world."