On March 8, a match between FC Rubin and FC Zenit took place at the Ak Bars Arena stadium

On March 8, the first match of the Russian football Premier League took place at the Ak Bars Arena stadium, during which FC Rubin defeated the reigning champion. The joy of victory was overshadowed by the state of the field, the appearance of which quite reasonably raised a number of questions from both the club and the fans.

The situation with football fields at Russian stadiums, including in Kazan, was professionally described by the chief agronomist of Lokomotiv, Vladislav Lysenko, in an interview with Championship.

More details on the "Chempionat":

https://www.championat.com/football/article-4290843-chto-proishodit-s-gazonami-v-moskve-kazani-i-sankt-peterburge-obyasnyaet-vladislav-lysenko.html?utm_source=copypaste

On February 28, the field at the Ak Bars Arena passed a commission inspection of the RFPL together with FC Rubin and received a positive conclusion. All preparatory measures were carried out in advance and in full compliance with the technological regulations, however, persistent frosts below 30 degrees for several weeks made their own adjustments. The agronomic service of the stadium made maximum efforts and all possible measures to prepare the field contrary to the laws of nature and the climatic characteristics of the region: the air temperature in February was objectively abnormally low. In such conditions, it is almost impossible to prepare a high-quality football pitch, taking into account the tough operation of the field in late autumn 2020, even taking into account the high level of professionalism of the stadium's agronomic service.

It is worth noting that the contractor for the field maintenance of the stadium was selected jointly with FC Rubin, the contract for the practice of recent years was three-party (the contractor, the stadium and the club). This guaranteed the ability to exercise additional control over all routine maintenance by the club.

Taking into account the current situation, already in mid-February, taking into account the weather forecast for March, all sides had concerns about the state of the field after the first match. In this regard, the issue of transferring at least one home game of FC Rubin to the Central Stadium was discussed, where on February 20 the heating of the field was turned on and the preparation of the covering began.

On February 27, the Ak Bars Arena stadium was notified of the postponement of the Rubin - Khimki match, scheduled for March 19, to the Central Stadium, which held its last football matches at home in March 2020. The lawn of the Central Stadium was not subjected to mechanical and operational loads during the year, the field actually rested and naturally entered into the winter period under the snow cover. These factors affected the spring state of the lawn and contributed to its rapid recovery, in contrast to the initial state of the young lawn of the Ak Bars Arena stadium, which hosted the games in November 2020. Thus, comparative assessments of the condition of the lawns of the two stadiums are incorrect: the facilities are in different periods and systems of seasonal operation.

In this regard, given the low temperatures in March, it is quite difficult to guarantee the full restoration of the pitch to its ideal state in a short time, but there is no doubt that the stadium will be ready to host matches in April.