You're reading: The Moscow Times: St. Petersburg’s Zenit stadium fails FIFA World Cup standards

The Moscow Times: St. Petersburg’s Zenit stadium fails FIFA World Cup standards

Published Nov. 3, 2016. Updated Nov. 3 at 3:26 pm

People watch as the facade of the historical Bolshoi Theatre is illuminated with the official emblem of the 2018 FIFA World Cup to be held in Russia in central Moscow on late Oct. 28, 2014.

Photo by AFP

The removable field at the new Zenit football stadium, currently under construction in St. Petersburg, does not meet FIFA’s field requirements for shock absorption.

A source who witnessed FIFA’s inspection of the field on Oct. 31 told the Regnum news agency that after jumping on the field, the FIFA inspector said that no championship match could be played on it. According to the inspector, the field failed the requirement by a factor of seven.