Stadium officials have decided to replace the pitch immediately rather than wait until the end of the season. The new ‘sand soil’ pitch, which has a different composition to the regular rye grass, will be hopefully better suited to the stadium design.
The Football Association confirmed that though initially planned for the post-FA Cup final on May 30, the new pitch will be ready by the second week of May.
Since its opening, Wembley has had a series of pitch problems. Rye grass, used to withstand the pressure of a number of non-football events like pop concerts, has proven unsuccessful.
Arsene Wenger, the French football manager of the English Premier League, labeled the pitch a ‘disaster’ after Arsenal’s FA Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea. Wenger opines that for a stadium costing in excess of GBP750 million ($1,131 million), the pitch should be of paramount importance.
