After discussions about lawn quality: Frankfurt makes decision

In Frankfurt, the pitch caused many problems during the Bundesliga season. After the American Football League NFL promoted the sport, which is increasingly popular in Germany, with two guest matches at Deutsche Bank Park in November, Eintracht Frankfurt had a new pitch installed in its stadium, but decided against a new hybrid pitch and instead to choose natural field for cost reasons. However, after many storms in the winter, the field was flooded for a long time and therefore lost its quality. After the international match of the German national team against the Netherlands in March, there was already criticism and this will now continue during the European Championship.

The Deutsche Bank Park is one of the ten locations for this year’s European Championship. One of the matches played in Frankfurt was England’s match against Denmark on the second matchday. After the match there was clear criticism of the quality of the pitch, especially from the Danish side. The pitch was very slippery and difficult to walk on, Danish full-back Joiakin Maehle reported after the match.

During the last match of the DFB selection against Switzerland, the pitch was again a topic of discussion. During the match it became clear that the field was not only slippery, but also not particularly durable. After the match, the German players were not sparing in their criticism. Toni Kroos complained in an interview immediately after the match about the poor quality of the field and coach Julian Nagelsmann also spoke out and compared the field to driving on summer tires in winter.

In response to the problems, Eintracht Frankfurt has now also responded and already made a decision. New grass must be laid for the new season, the newspaper reports ImageHowever, this move will only take place in the new season, which means that the European Championship participants will still have to deal with the slippery grass. The group match between Slovakia and Romania and a round of 16 will still be played in Frankfurt. UEFA also recently commented, referring to maintenance plans and close cooperation with the stadium operators.

Hopefully, at least for the new Bundesliga season, the quality of the pitch in the arena will be significantly improved with new grass. However, it will be natural grass again. There is simply not enough time between the European Championships and the new season to make the extra effort to create a hybrid lawn. However, there are already plans to finally install a new hybrid lawn at the Frankfurt stadium next summer.