Getting game back on its feet

BANDA ACEH: A maze of drainage ditches, water pipes and mounds of dirt crisscross the pitch at Banda Aceh’s Lampineung Stadium, home of the Persiraja Football Club. The stands are mostly stacks of warped boards, which dozens of construction workers are removing in preparation for a major renovation. 

Football’s international governing body (FIFA) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) are financing repairs to the facilities in preparation for the team’s return to the Indonesian First Division for the first time since last year’s undersea quake, tsunami and subsequent relief operations devastated the site.