One Direction announcing the Jakarta leg of their tour on March 25.
One Direction fans will be glad to know that their favorite boy band did not cause the Indonesian U-23 soccer team to play the U-23 Asian Cup Qualifiers away from the favored Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) stadium in Senayan, South Jakarta.
In fact, GBK management confirmed that One Direction booked the stadium much more in advance.
“One Direction booked the stadium two years ago through an event organizer for their world tour,” said Raja Parlindungan Pane, Director of the GBK Complex Development, as quoted by Detik today.
“They’ve even begun preparations a long time ago, particularly in relation to safety. PSSI (the Indonesian Football Association) booked the stadium in January. We still responded positively and told them we’d get the stadium ready.”
But the fact remains the Indonesia U-23 team will play their qualifiers in Solo Central Java instead of the GBK. Perhaps the GBK management shouldn’t have approved the soccer team’s booking for the stadium as it would be nearly impossible to get the stadium ready for a soccer match just two days after a huge concert.
