Gelora Bung Karno – stadium description

Gelora Bung Karno Stadium is located within the vast Bung Karno sports complex in Jakarta. It’s used primarily for international football games. Surrounded with parking sites and bus routes, it’s also served by Jakarta’s light rail. The Palmerah station is just 500 metres north. The city’s subway also runs along the southern edge of the complex, allowing fans to use the red line.

The main stadium is surrounded by secondary sporting venues, most notably the training stadium natatorium, baseball stadium and indoor arena. Additionally, the complex includes training fields for football, field hockey and softball, as well as tennis, squash and basketball courts. The area is also equipped with a helipad.

The most distinctive part of the stadium is its roof, creating a massive ring around the venue. While it wouldn’t be considered innovative today, back in 1962 it was one of the most stunning stadium canopies in existence. Aside of covering all fans, the roof extends outwards, making the building even more imposing, app. 320 m long and 270 m wide. Floodlighting is mounted into the inner edge of the roof.

Construction of the stadium began on February 8, 1960 and opening took place 2.5 years later, in July of 1962. Work was financed with a loan from the USSR, amounting to USD 12.5 million. The debt was secured in late 1958.

Official inauguration took place on July 21, with starting capacity at immense 110,000. The building was named after Sukarno (also known as Bung Karno, which translates to Comrade Karno), Indonesia’s first president after independency and the initiator of the complex’ construction. In 1984, as part of nationwide “de-sukarnisation” policy, the name was changed by a decree to Stadion Utama Gelora Senayan. However, after reformation of 1998, the former name was eventually restored in 2001.

The stadium’s capacity was changed on a couple occasion. First, in 2006 installation of seating with backrests (partly individual seating) reduced the scale to 88,083. These works were carried out as part of preparation for the 2007 Asian Cup. Then in 2016-18 complete seat replacement led to the size falling further, this time to 77,193.

This time, work was delivered in order to host the 2018 Asian Games, for which GBK was the main venue. It received modern LED lighting and brand new external illumination, while internally facilities were vastly improved for all fans, boosting accessibility for disabled fans. The historical roof was thoroughly renovated in order to extend its lifespan, while it became topped by a ring of photovoltaic panels.

Over the years, the stadium became a de facto home for the national team of Indonesia, while also hosting mass events in other disciplines, like the aforementioned AFC Asian Cup of 2007 or the 2018 Asian Games. It served as the home for a few Piala Indonesia (Indonesian FA Cup) finals.

But perhaps most notably, it became the interim home for Persija, Jakarta’s largest football club. Even after conversion to seating, the team’s fanbase (commonly known as Jakmania) managed to gather in numbers of well over 100,000 on many occasions, one time ending in the death of 2 fans (2011) during an unfortunate stampede.