Fukushima Prefecture and the Japan Football Association plan to partially reopen the J-Village national soccer training center in July 2018, nine months ahead of schedule, sources close to the matter said Wednesday.

The facility now serves as Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s forward base for dealing with the March 2011 accident at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

A committee including the prefectural government and the association will finalize the plan Thursday to reopen two of the 10 soccer courts and a central building for lodging in 2018. The two courts have been left unused.

The committee earlier indicated its intent to have the facility used for training camps of Japan's national soccer team toward the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Located about 20 km south of the nuclear plant, the J-Village was built and donated by TEPCO to the prefectural government with the aim of revitalizing the local economy well before the accident. It had been used for soccer training camps.