Shah Alam Stadium go to rack and ruin

Article posted by Coliseum, July 7^th, 2022

Image: Shah Alam Stadium, Acid Bonez, CC BY-SA 3.0

The iconic Shah Alam Stadium, once the pride of the State (Selangor) and the country (Malaysia), is now falling apart. And it may soon be torn down and replaced with a new, smaller building.

‘TheStar’ stated that the massive 83,000-capacity stadium, inaugurated with much fanfare in 1994, was the biggest in the country until the 87,411-capacity Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) was opened four years later.

The Shah Alam Stadium is a multipurpose stadium located in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. It is used mostly for football matches but also has facilities for athletics. The stadium is the official home of Selangor F.C. since July 16^th, 1994, and has a capacity of 80,372.

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It also hosted games for the 1997 Under-20 FIFA World Cup™.

‘TheStar’ further stated that however, it has since suffered from major structural defects with a poor pitch, a leaking polycarbonate roof and rotting structures which have left it unsafe.

Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, in a recent tweet, admitted that the six-story Malawati Stadium, which is part of the Shah Alam Stadium, could be demolished.

However, he said this would only be decided after a special committee put together to look into the situation submits its findings.

He added that any reconstruction done on the Shah Alam Stadium complex at Section 13 will involve the stadium.

The 13,000-capacity Malawati Stadium is an indoor stadium located in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. The stadium is located beside the Shah Alam Stadium.

Said Amirudin, “The rebuilding of the Shah Alam Stadium will be announced soon.”

The stadium has been the venue of many memorable football matches for almost three decades and was the official home ground of the State team, the ‘Red Giants’.

Selangor Football Club, commonly referred to as Selangor F.C., is a professional Malaysian football club based in the City of Shah Alam, Selangor, which competes in the Malaysia Super League, the top tier of Malaysian football. The club are nicknamed the ‘Red Giants’.

However, the dilapidated state of the Shah Alam Stadium has forced the team to play their home games at the 25,000-capacity MBPJ Stadium in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, since last year.

Sources said any new structure to be put up would likely be a modern building with a smaller capacity of between 30,000 and 40,000.

Last year, Selangor Ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah had spoken about the stadium’s sorry state.

The Ruler had said its reconstruction must be in tandem with a planned LRT Station adjacent to it. He added that the Raja Muda of Selangor Tengku Amir Shah had asked if the stadium could be demolished and rebuilt exclusively as a football stadium.

Shah had said last year, “I have no objections to the stadium being demolished for it to be better but the name must be maintained.”

Amirudin has previously said the stadium would be refurbished once approval was obtained from the Selangor Menteri Besar Incorporated.

Repair and upgrading works, estimated to cost between RM200mil and RM300mil, he said, were expected to be completed in 2024.

Work on the stadium was supposed to begin last year but it was delayed due to COVID-19 which had torn the world asunder.

However, there had also been talk that there were plans to demolish the stadium to build a smaller one – with the remaining land set aside for housing developers.

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