Fifa, football’s global governing body, has expressed its concerns about an “unstable” pitch at a stadium that is being built for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The Krestovsky Stadium in St Petersburg has a retractable playing surface. However, Fifa has said that there are issues surrounding the pitch that need to be resolved.
“Engineers will propose a solution to ensure a stable field,” Fifa said.
Vitaly Mutko, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, has been reported as saying that the issue is “nothing unusual”, and has insisted that the stadium is still set to be completed by the end of this year.
“The issue is that the field rolls into the venue on an unstable base and needs to be strengthened,” he said.
Valery Gazzaev, a Russian Member of Parliament and a former USSR footballer, said: “If the pitch is unsuited to holding such major events, then why has it been built?”
The 68,000-seat stadium is reportedly costing about $690m (£550m/€621m). It will become the new home of Russian club Zenit St Petersburg and will host games during next year’s Confederations Cup World Cup warm-up event, as well as a World Cup semi-final the following year.
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