The playing area at the National Arena will be changed for the third time in a year, as the president of Romanian Football Federation, Mircea Sandu said the turf was damaged after the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert.

The new turf will be paid for by the football teams Steaua Bucuresti and Dinamo Bucuresti along with a contribution from SC Emagic Concerts SRL, the organizers of the RHCP concert.

“With Andorra we won’t play on this turf. We are in the changing operation. A team from Poland will come and along with the Romanian team will rip the lawn tomorrow the day after tomorrow, and Thursday the operation is going to start. The trucks are already on the road with the turf,” said Mircea Sandu.

The first turf was replaced after the first match on the new arena, the second re-turfing lasted until the spring of this year and the third set was put in place for the final of the Europa League, but was damaged during the concert end August.

The playing area was replaced with new turf costing EUR 1 million on May 9, 2012. During the Romania-France football match, which took place on September 6, 2011, large chunks of turf on the National Arena were uprooted, filling the pitch with holes. After this, the turf at the stadium was replaced. Romanian and French media commented on the state of the pitch during the Romania-France game, comparing it to a field of potatoes and a garden filled with molehills.

Ioana Toader, ioana.toader@romania-insider.com