SIS Pitches adds two more Russian venues to World Cup portfolio

Artificial turf manufacturer SIS Pitches is to install two more hybrid pitches at host venues for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia.

With the new additions, six of the 12 stadiums to host games at next summer’s national team football tournament will have hybrid pitches from the advanced natural turf system, SIS Grass.

The two additional stadiums are the 45,015-capacity Mordovia Arena (pictured) in Saransk, as well as the 44,918-seat Samara Arena.

Mordovia Arena will begin work in July with completion planned for four weeks after. The stadium, which is due to host group games next summer, will also become the home ground of Russian Premier League (RPL) club FC Mordovia Saransk, replacing the Start Stadium.

Work on Samara Arena will begin in August and is also anticipated to take four weeks. The stadium will host the RPL’s FC Krylia Sovetov Samara, replacing the Metallurg Stadium.

Ilyas Kobal, SIS Pitches’ Eastern European managing director, said: “The quality of SISGrass will make sure that the pitches at Mordovia Arena and Samara Arena are resilient in all conditions, and we’re confident that our pitches will exceed expectations for players, officials and fans alike.

“As we’re seeing both projects through from start to finish, the team has put in a lot of work already. We’re looking forward to seeing that realised and have teams play on the best playing surface in the world.”

Other stadiums to have SIS Grass pitches at the 2018 Russia World Cup are the Krasnodar Stadium and Rostov Arena, and Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium and Spartak Stadium.

Image: Павел Протченко