Renovation works to upgrade three stadiums have been completed ahead of the start of the new Chinese Super League (CSL) season on July 25 after a near five-month delay because of COVID-19.

The three venues are in Dalian, one of the two host cities in a restructured season. The 16 CSL teams will be split into two groups, with one also based in Suzhou.

Games in Dalian will be played at the city's Sports Center, Jinzhou Stadium and the Youth Academy of Dalian Pro, with the Sports Center hosting the opening ceremony and the first game between Shanghai Shenhua and the defending champions Guangzhou Evergrande.

The stadium is home to the city's team in the CSL and is also one of the venues for the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup. It has undergone construction work recently ahead of these two events in order to upgrade facilities.

The Jinzhou Stadium has been transformed, with the exterior walls renovated and the inner blue track fully covered by green lawn, after being left unused for half a year because of COVID-19.

The Youth Academy, which took eight months to complete, has 23 professional training and match sites, including a floodlit pitch that can accommodate 5,000 spectators.

Suzhou also has got all its preparation work done.

Teams will start moving into the zones on Saturday and need to arrive no later than July 20. They are not allowed to bring in their own food on safety grounds, as hotels will be responsible for providing meals daily.

(Cover: CSL's indicator for Season 2020, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, July 14, 2020. /CFP)