Asian Games 2023 Faces Accommodation Crisis as Events Begin

The Asian Games in Nagoya have barely stirred into life, yet the first whistle has already been drowned out by complaints off the pitch.

South Korean officials on Monday branded the accommodation arrangements the “worst ever”, warning of “a serious shortage” of rooms as athletes arrive for one of the continent’s showpiece events. The Games officially open on Saturday. The grumbling has started well ahead of the fireworks.

At the heart of the anger are the makeshift living quarters. With no dedicated athletes’ village in Nagoya, organisers have pieced together a patchwork solution: a cruise ship, temporary wooden cabins, hotels scattered around the city, and rows of shipping container-style huts.

Those containers have become a symbol of the discontent. A South Korean basketball chief described beds so short that players cannot fully stretch out, an absurd detail at an elite tournament where recovery and rest are as precious as any tactical session. These are professionals preparing to carry a nation’s hopes, not tourists squeezing into budget rooms for a long weekend.

Other delegations have been forced to improvise. Officials from the Philippines, facing the same shortage, turned to Airbnb to secure somewhere—anywhere—for their athletes and staff to sleep. It is a jarring image: national teams, days before competition, scrolling through rental listings instead of finalising game plans.

Cost-cutting lies behind the entire accommodation model. Without a purpose-built village, organisers have gambled on a cheaper, modular approach. The early verdict from some of Asia’s biggest sporting nations is brutal.

All this unfolds while the sport has already begun. Football and basketball tipped off ahead of the opening ceremony, and on Monday Hong Kong’s women’s football team felt the full force of China, falling 5-1 in their opening match. On the field, the gulf in class was clear. Off it, the noise is about something else entirely.

As the Games move towards their official start, athletes will try to shut out the distractions and focus on medals. The question now is whether the competition can escape the shadow of its own off-field misstep—or whether these cramped beds and scattered rooms will define how Nagoya is remembered.