Bukit Jalil National Stadium (Kuala Lumpur)

Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur is the largest stadium in Southeast Asia, the fourth largest in Asia, and the fifteenth largest in the world as of 2025. It is the national stadium of Malaysia and has a capacity of 85,000.

It hosted the 1998 Commonwealth Games, staging its opening ceremony, going on to become the main venue for other international events, such as the 2001 Southeast Asian Games and the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, as well as the national football stadium. 

The national team play most of its home games there, with a friendly against Arsenal being played in May 1999 in front of 60,000 fans. In 2025, an ASEAN All Stars team took on Manchester United, with 72,550 attending.

My visit

Tuesday 24th March 2009

With Air Asia flying direct from Stansted to Kuala Lumpur, I thought it a great chance to visit the Malaysian capital and do some sightseeing. As described on the Stadium Merdeka page, that wasn’t quite as straightforward as it seemed when booking.

Nevertheless, after visiting some sights, including the old colonial area around the majestic old Railway Station, I headed south to the large sports complex that I had passed the previous evening on the bus from the airport, with floodlights on in the main stadium.

I walked to Masjid Jamek, from where I boarded the SPL train to Bukit Jalil, which took around twenty minutes. It was a further ten-minute walk to the stadium, which looked to be locked up. I went into the office and asked if there was any chance of going inside for a look.

A friendly lady said it was not a problem, but photography was not permitted. It was an incredible venue, and the excitement got the better of me as I sneakily took some shots before being correctly chastised. I thanked her for her assistance and headed off.

Before taking the train back, I went inside the National Hockey Stadium and took some more photos. It was also a superb stadium, with a capacity of 12,000, with every seat offering an excellent view and being under a roof.

As things transpired, the groundhopping police must have been looking down. My phone, which contained the photos which I hadn’t had a chance to download, was stolen by a transgender person at the end of Soi Cowboy as I was pickpocketed at the end of a rather liquid-heavy evening in Bangkok before I headed to the cricket in Chiang Mai.

The images on this page have been taken from online sources.