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Bengaluru’s notorious traffic is back in the news after the Panama football team, which was in the city to play India, reportedly took more than two hours to reach the stadium on Friday.
Panama, a two-time FIFA World Cup participant, played the Indian team in a friendly match that ended in a 1–1 draw.
In the post-match press conference, the team’s head coach, Thomas Christiansen, expressed disappointment over logistics and suggested the traffic delay exhausted the players.
He said, “I don’t want this to sound like an excuse, but it is not easy to be in a bus for two hours in traffic to get to the stadium. The logistics and the travel here were also complicated. We have to be smarter when we sign these agreements again. I don’t want this to sound like an excuse, but we have to be careful with how we handle things inside and outside the pitch because our players deserve better.”
The match was held at 7.30 pm and the team stayed at Renaissance Bengaluru Race Course Hotel. The Sree Kanteerava Stadium, where the match was held, is barely 3.8 km from the hotel.
The match was also attended by Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and Bangalore Development Authority chairman N A Haris, who is also vice-president of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF).
However, a senior traffic police officer whom indianexpress.com spoke to denied that the bus trip took two hours.
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“I was there at the place and there was a VIP movement including the chief minister. There was no such delay. The team reached the spot as per their schedule. There is a traffic issue in Bengaluru. But in this specific stretch, there is always moving traffic,” the officer said, adding that although the trip did not take two hours, it might have felt that way to the Panama team.