Shoddy pitch puts Russia on the spot
Authorities eager to save face as $800m stadium prepares to host the Confederations Cup
The new World Cup stadium in Saint Petersburg was meant to boast a state-ofthe-art pitch and be a showcase for Vladimir Putin’s Russia when it hosts the 2018 football bonanza.
Instead the $800 million (Dh2.98 billion) venue, which took a decade to build, has caused more embarrassment than pride as Russian authorities scramble to salvage its pitch less than a month before it hosts the opening match of the Confederations Cup, a World Cup warm-up tournament.
Uprooted chunks of turf and bald spots on the playing surface in the first match last month at the 68,000-seat arena — a 2-0 win by home team Zenit St Petersburg over Ural Yekaterinburg — sparked concern that the stadium would be unsuitable for Russian Premier League matches, let alone the 2018 World Cup.
While officials played down the situation, the stadium received wide-ranging criticism including from Zenit manager Mircea Lucescu. Now, less than a month before Russia face New Zealand at the venue on June 17, workers have begun replacing the turf in a desperate battle against time.
It is the latest chapter in a decade-long saga of spiralling bills, missed deadlines and scandal surrounding the World Cup in Russia. Even before the issues with the grass, problems with the stadium’s retractable pitch made the playing surface vibrate and threw doubt on whether it could host games.
The Saint Petersburg stadium is not the only Russian football venue that has experienced problems with its pitch — with much blame heaped on the country’s harsh winter. Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho decried the pitch in Rostov for their Europa League match against the local team in March.