Russian Premier League football club Zenit St. Petersburg has announced that it will move its scheduled home game against FC Krasnodar to an alternate venue, due to ongoing issues regarding the playing surface at the new St. Petersburg Stadium.
Zenit will now play Krasnodar on May 18 at its old Petrovksy Stadium, which the club recently left in order to relocate to the St. Petersburg Stadium.
However, according to the Associated Press news agency, the playing surface at the new facility is in a poor state, with large chunks of grass having been torn up during the two matches that have already been played at the venue.
St. Petersburg Stadium is scheduled to host matches during this year’s edition of the Fifa Confederations Cup, including the final on July 2.
However, with the field of play currently not up to scratch, Zenit and organisers of the 2018 World Cup, which will also take place in Russia, concluded that the home match should be moved in order to avoid further damage to the pitch.
In a statement on its website, Zenit said that the decision “will allow organisers to completely prepare the St. Petersburg Stadium field” for the Confederations Cup and also “spare the young grass field extra strain”.
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