Rajamangala Stadium's lights are broken, U.23 Thailand has to play in very dim light: What's happening at the SEA Games?

On the evening of December 3, the U.23 teams of Thailand and Timor Leste were not able to play in the best lighting conditions at Rajamangala Stadium.

In the first match of Group A of men's football, the host team U.23 Thailand faced Timor Leste at 7 p.m. Rajamangala Stadium, which is the most modern stadium in Southeast Asia, was unexpectedly much darker than usual. According to Thanh Nien reporters, a series of light bulbs in the lighting system at Rajamangala Stadium were broken. The stadium management board had to urgently borrow lights from Nakhon Ratchasima Stadium to replace them. The Governor of the Sports Authority of Thailand said that this problem would be fixed before the opening ceremony of the 33rd SEA Games, which took place on the evening of December 9.

Rajamangala Stadium is quite dark when taken with phone, no editing

PHOTO: DONG NGUYEN KHANG

The photo was taken on December 3rd, even though the aperture (f, the lower the number, the more light is allowed in) was only 2.8, the ISO (light sensitivity, the higher the number, the brighter the photo) still had to be raised to 4,000 for the photo to be bright enough.

PHOTO: DONG NGUYEN KHANG

The photo was taken at Rajamangala 3 years ago. Even though the aperture was 4 and the other parameters were the same as in 2025, this photo still has the same brightness.

PHOTO: DONG NGUYEN KHANG

Poor lighting not only affects the professional quality of the match but also makes it a bit difficult for photojournalists to work.

PHOTO: DONG NGUYEN KHANG

U.23 struggled to win against Laos, Dinh Bac determined '8 days from now it will be different'

Before the 33rd SEA Games officially started, Rajamangala Stadium revealed some problems. In the afternoon of the same day, during the pre-match ceremony between U.23 Vietnam and Laos, an incident also occurred. The computer could not play the national anthems of the two countries, forcing the players to sing the national anthem a cappella. The Vietnamese fans in the stands also tried to sing along very loudly to make the Vietnamese National Anthem more heroic.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/san-rajamangala-hong-den-u23-thai-lan-phai-dau-rat-thieu-sang-chuyen-gi-dang-xay-ra-o-sea-games-vay-185251203202322251.htm