World Cup, without a doubt, is the single biggest sporting event in the world. It is probably the biggest event in the world, surpassing every other events in the world in terms of sheer size and the buzzes it generates. Though it is an event mainly made to cater to the soccer aficionados, there is little doubt that it affects each and every one of us in varying degree due to its monumental significance. Everyone wants to eat a slice of the whole World Cup’s cake, and Indonesia is not an exception to this rule.

As ludicrous as this may seem (in particular if one is care to remember about what Indonesia has achieved—or has not achieved in this case), Indonesia is pursuing the rights to become the host of World Cup in the future… more specifically World Cup 2018 or 2022. Indonesia is up against the likes of Japan, Korea, Australia, Qatar, England, Spain-Portugal, Russia, United States, and others. In order to even have a shot at winning, however, Indonesia requires a number of international level soccer stadiums to be built throughout the country. Bandung’s part in it is by building the Gedebage Soccer Stadium, which is also known as West Java Stadium or WJS.

Gedebage Soccer Stadium is slated to be the biggest and the most advanced soccer stadium in Bandung. Currently the construction of the stadium is still underway, although reports of its projected completion date are conflicted either in 2010, 2011, or 2012. The stadium will have the capability of hosting approximately 40.000 people, although once again there are conflicted reports of its maximum capacity reaching up to 70.000 people. Either way, the stadium—once completed, that is—will serve as the main base of Persib Bandung (the city’s most famous soccer club) as well as becoming the main venue for 2011’s South East Asian Games.

Should the project managed to reach completion without any disturbance, then Bandung will have one of the most expensive soccer stadiums ever built in Indonesia. Approximate cost for this stadium that is placed on 40 hectares of land amounted up to 623 billion Rupiahs, or around 62 million and three hundred US Dollars. Some would say that that amount of money would be better subjected to improve Bandung’s overall infrastructure (damn you holes in the streets!), but then again it is a rarity for us Indonesians in general and Bandung people in particular to own something that we can really brag about in the international world. I suppose in that sense, our indulgence can be (somewhat) forgiven.

There is a community in Facebook built on the premise of supporting Gedebage Stadium all the way from its construction to its completion and beyond that. You can find it here. I will also make several posts related to the World Cup craze in this blog… yeah, please forgive me that I want to have that slice of cake too

Tags: Bandung, Bandung City, FIFA World Cup, Gedebage, Miscellanious, Persib, Persib Bandung, Soccer, Travel, World Cup
Categories: Bandung City

This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 5:18 AM and is filed under Bandung City. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.