JABAR EKSPRES – Chairman of the Indonesian Football Association Erick Thohir proposed that the 2023 U-17 World Cup in Indonesia, which will take place on November 10 to December 2, be held in four cities, namely Jakarta, Bandung, Solo and Surabaya.
This proposal is considered considering the U-17 World Cup which will be held in approximately 100 days.
Previously there were seven cities with eight stadiums planned to be used, namely Jakarta (Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium and Jakarta International Stadium), Bandung (Si Jalak Harupat Stadium), Bogor (Pakansari Stadium), Solo (Manahan Stadium), Surabaya (Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium), Bali (Kapten I Wayan Dipta Stadium), and Palembang (Gelora Sriwijaya Jakabaring Stadium).
“We propose eight stadiums, especially six that have been renovated for U-20, plus two. From the results of the budgeting agreement earlier, yes we see it seems to be narrowed down to four stadiums,” Erick said through a press conference held at the Media Center of the Bung Karno Main Stadium (SUGBK), Wednesday (8/3) night.
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“Indeed, yes, the context again is only 100 days, we don’t want to risk things that will backfire when on the D-day we are not ready,” he added.
The four cities used, said Erick, out of six groups in the U-17 World Cup, each containing four teams, Jakarta and Bandung will hold two groups each, while Solo and Surabaya will hold one group each.
“Discussions with FIFA earlier we proposed two groups in Jakarta, two groups in Bandung, one group in Solo, one group in Surabaya, semifinals and finals in Solo, opening in Jakarta, national team in Jakarta, that’s what we proposed,” said Erick.
“The consequence is that if there are two groups in Jakarta and Bandung, the training ground must be added. In Bandung there are three to four training places, maybe one must be added. In Jakarta there must be two,” he added.
