FIFA Asks Grass At GBT Stadium To Have Football Standard Quality

GBT Stadium (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) or the World Football Federation asked the grass at the Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium (GBT) Surabaya City, East Java, to have the standard quality of football ahead of the U-20 World Cup in 2023.

"We have to re-optimalize the care, so the grass has standard quality for football," said Head of the Surabaya Culture, Youth, Sports and Tourism Office (Disbudporapar) Wiwiek Widayati, quoted by Antara, Sunday.

Wiwiek said that he and the Deputy Chairperson of the East Java PSSI Asprov Amir Burhanuddin accompanied FIFA representatives during an inspection at the Bung Tomo Stadium (GBT), last Saturday.

During this second FIFA inspection, he said, FIFA checked the existing facilities at GBT Stadium. FIFA said the Venue Operation Control (VOC) had high standards. Likewise, the speed of the construction of access roads to GBT.

"So yesterday two teams from FIFA. One team reviewed the infrastructure and the second team checked in the field," he said.

Wiwik said FIFA appreciated the performance of the Surabaya City Government in preparing the GBT Stadium for the 2023 U-20 World Cup. Because, he said, on the initial visit of FIFA in July 2022, there are various records. However, now the Surabaya City Government has made various changes.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chairperson of the East Java PSSI Asprov Amir Burhanuddin said the results of the FIFA inspection would soon be submitted to PSSI and the Surabaya City Government for immediate follow-up.

"According to what FIFA expects, for football the most important thing is field of play. Hopefully this will be an even greater opportunity than the previous visit, for Surabaya to become one of the World Cup venues," said Amir.

Amir admitted that FIFA gave appreciation to the Surabaya City Government. This is because the performance of the city government is beyond FIFA expectations. In fact, he believes that the City of Surabaya is ready to host the 2023 U-20 World Cup.

"Outside of their expectations, which can be completed in 6-7 months, it turns out that it has been completed. One of them is access (ways)," he said.

Not only that, he continued, FIFA was also amazed by the U-20 Asian Cup qualifiers, they immediately reported the atmosphere of the GBT Stadium to high-ranking FIFA officials via text message. This was due to the high enthusiasm of football fans when watching the U-20 Asian Cup qualifying match.

"So from the enthusiasm of football fans in Surabaya, FIFA is still favored. Because the purpose of the world cup being held anywhere is about the impression venue," said Amir.