St Petersburg pitch will be ready for Confederations Cup final

FIFA has said the pitch at the St Petersburg Stadium will be ready for the final of the Confederations Cup – an eight-team tournament which features the next World Cup hosts, the previous World Cup winners and the six continental champions – despite suffering damage throughout the tournament.

FIFA's director of competitions, Colin Smith, revealed to reporters that the stadium's “young pitch” had sustained damage from matches as well as training sessions.

Speaking earlier this morning, Smith said: “We did significant top dressing last night. Tomorrow we will fully cover the pitch and really regulate the temperature and the growing conditions in there.”

He added: “We're confident that it will be a good playing surface for the final.”

The final of the Confederation Cup – which acts as a warm up to the 2018 World Cup which Russia is hosting - is due to be played at St Petersburg Stadium this Sunday (2 July).

But it’s not just football that has thrust St Petersburg firmly onto the world stage. The Russian port city is making headlines having been selected as the host of World Travel Awards Europe Gala Ceremony 2017 (www.worldtravelawards.com/event/europe-2017).

Graham Cooke, Founder and President of World Travel Awards – widely dubbed the Oscars of the travel industry – said: “It will be an honour for World Travel Awards to visit for Russia for the first time in September 2017.

“Saint Petersburg is one of the most famous cities in the world and this is a fantastic opportunity for the city to take its rightful place as a top rank tourism destination.”

Saint Petersburg Committee for Tourism Development Chairman, Andrey Mushkarev, said: “We will be honoured to host the leading European tourism industry professionals in Saint Petersburg in 2017.

“We are confident this event will be one of the best in the history of the World Travel Awards and we are pleased to invite everyone to the Europe Gala Ceremony in St. Petersburg; a city that is the pride not only of Russia and Europe, but of the whole world.”
 

Kaye Holland

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