Indonesia asks to change venue for fear of 'breaking the stadium' in Vietnam match

Head of the Indonesian football delegation Endri Erawan asked the organizing committee to change the venue of the match against Vietnam to serve the cheering needs of the people of this country.

Besides the host team Malaysia, Indonesia is the team with the most powerful fans at this year's SEA Games. Photo: Lam Thoa.

The crucial clash for the tickets to the next round in Group B will take place at 7:45 p.m. at Selayang Stadium. However, according to Mr. Endri Erawan, the 15,000-seat stadium is not enough to accommodate the passionate football fans from the archipelago, so he has sent a request to the organizing committee to change the match venue.

According to information from Indosport, 9,000 Indonesian fans went to Malaysia to cheer on their team in the 1-0 win over Timor Leste two days ago, also at Selayang Stadium. It is expected that the number of spectators watching the match with Vietnam will exceed the capacity of the stadium in Selangor state.

Currently, the Vietnamese fan base in Malaysia is quite strong, with about 2,500 people watching the recent 4-0 victory over the Philippines. When the two most populous and football-fanatical countries in Southeast Asia face each other, Mr. Erawan is worried that the Selayang Stadium will collapse. "The match against Vietnam is of core significance to both teams," he told Goal Indonesia. "I think there will be a lot of fans in the stadium. So I suggest that the organizers move this clash to Shah Alam, which is not serving any matches at the same time."

“I will present my request to the head of the organizing committee, Aziz Syamsuddin. Remember the last time we met Malaysia in Selayang in the AFF Cup, our bus had its windows smashed due to lack of security. Obviously, this stadium is not big enough to accommodate two groups of crazy fans. If my request is not approved, we will prepare more carefully for security,” Mr. Erawan emphasized.

According to VNE