80th Birthday Stadium 4.55

The 80th Birthday Stadium is a sports facility in Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat), Thailand. It is the main stadium in His Majesty the King's 80th Birthday Anniversary, 5 December 2007, Sports Complex. It is home to Nakhon Ratchasima FC, a professional team, and it was used for the 2007 Southeast Asian Games which coincided with the 80th birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, hence the name of the venue.The stadium is in the former SEA Games sports complex on Highway 304 (Pak Thong Chai Road) southwest of the city of Nakhon Ratchasima. The stadium is all-seated with space for 24,641 spectators. The tribunes form a continuous ring, almost a perfect circle, around the pitch and running track. The stands are uncovered on three sides but a huge cantilevered roof provides cover for about 7,000 seats on one side where the ring rises to approximately double the height of the tribune it faces. Most of the seats in the stadium are bright orange (the same colour as Nakhon Ratchasima FC's home kit) and are the fixed-bucket style. But in the main stand some of the seats at the top of the tribune are red and those in the VIP section are not fixed bucket but the tip-up type favoured in the UK. In the lower sections of the main stand the initials "SAT" (Sports Authority of Thailand) are picked out in blue. The equivalent letters in Thai script are also picked out in blue. There are commentary boxes and private suites at the top of the main stand. There is also a large royal box in the middle of the main stand. At the north end of the stadium is a large scoreboard. At the opposite end are the three flagpoles used for the SEA Games and the place where the "Olympic" flame burned.