By Richard van Poortvliet
April 30 – The Russian Football Union has moved Russia’s friendly match against Slovakia in May from Kazan to St. Petersburg, due to the poor state of the pitch in the capital of Tatarstan.
The Kazan Arena, which was built to host matches at the 2018 World Cup, has yet to host a football match, despite being completed in May 2013, in time for the World Student Games later that summer, where the stadium was used for the opening and closing ceremonies.
Following the closure of the Luzhniki Stadium, which is undergoing restoration work ahead of the World Cup, the Kazan Arena is currently the largest stadium in Russia, holding 45,000. However, due to reconstruction work, after the World Student Games finished, local team Rubin still have not been able to move into the new stadium and are still playing at the Tsentralni Stadium.
Understandably, the director of the stadium, Radik Minnakhmetov was saddened on the decision to move the game, which he believes was due to input from the Russian head coach, Fabio Capello.
“What can I say, of course we are all really disappointed,” Minnakhmetov added.
Earlier in the month, the stadium director seemed confident that everything would be in place for Russia to play their friendly match in the city on May 26.
They were forced to lay a new pitch for a second time after the grass, which was put down in November 2013, at a reported cost of $6 million dollars, was ruined.
“Due to a cold winter, the grass was unable to grow properly. This is a normal situation as grass is a living organism. The grass looks green, but you can see it is not in good shape when you have a closer look,” Minnakhmetov stated.
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