On Thursday, the Finnish men’s national football team will play their opening match of the European Championship qualifiers at Parken in Copenhagen against Denmark. The condition of the stadium’s turf has been the talk of the town in Denmark for years, and the renovation didn’t end the conversation either.
will show Huuhkajie’s EC qualifiers on its channels. Live broadcast of the Denmark match on Thursday from 21:00 on TV2, Areena and the app. The match starts at 21:45.
Huuhkajat will open its European Championship qualifying match on Thursday on a stage significant to Finnish football history, Copenhagen’s Parken, where the Finnish men’s national football team played its first ever European Championship match in June 2021.
In Denmark, the home arena of the country’s national men’s soccer team has been in the headlines a lot, and not just in a positive sense. Stadium grass fitness has spoken since then (you switch to another service)when the stadium was completed in 1992.
The arena is in heavy use, as it also serves as the home stadium of FC Copenhagen, which plays in the Danish men’s premier league. In addition, concerts are organized there, among other things.
Criticism finally answered last year (you switch to another service), when the new hybrid turf was installed. At the same time, the irrigation and heating system was renewed. The price of the extensive renovation was announced as a “double-digit million sum”.
Despite the huge financial contribution, the troubles have continued. When FC Copenhagen resumed their Superliga games after a break at the end of February, the condition of the field was again in the headlines. The club announced that the grass has not grown as expected.
– The grass must be allowed to settle and grow. Its time is at the end of March at the earliest. In practice, football should not be played at Parken before the first of April, the chairman of the Danish Football Field Managers’ Association Karsten Paaske commented to Ekstrabladet at the end of February. (you switch to another service)
Paaske had little praise for the condition of the platform of the national arena.
– Parken is built completely wrong when it comes to grass growth, Paaske said.
“Stress on the lawn”
Chairman of Parken by Allan Agerholm according to recent studies, it appears that the grass on the field is a little “stressed” right now.
– It sounds funny, but it’s not. This can happen when natural forces are involved. It’s never smart to start moving turf in winter, but it was the art of the possible, Agerholm comment on Ekstrabladet (you will switch to another service) on Tuesday.
According to Agerholm, the heat was also not calibrated correctly on the first attempt.
However, the Parken boss was not worried about the condition of the pitch in Thursday’s EC qualifying match.
– The players have been hoping for a change for a long time. It’s not pretty, but it’s effective. Sportingly, it meets the standards and is in really good shape, it just doesn’t look pretty, Agerholm assured.
Agerholm doesn’t regret the million-dollar renovation either, because according to him, the structural problem has now been fixed.
Denmark head coach from Kasper Hjulmand didn’t get much sympathy.
– We’ll see. It could have looked better, Hjulmand commented a week ago at the team’s press conference.
– I’m always annoyed when I can’t play on good fields. On the other hand, I’m waiting for us to get to our training ground. It looks really, really good. Our wish is always to play in the best possible conditions, Hjulmand continued.
The Danish national team prepared for the opening of the EC qualifiers in Helsingör on a brand new hybrid turf. Huhkajat, on the other hand, trained in Söbörg in slightly muddier conditions.
There are also problems in the supporters’ stand
The condition of the field is not the only thing that has worried the stadium. The Danish Football Association published a press release on Tuesday, (you will switch to another service)in which it was forbidden to jump in the men’s national football team’s fan stand at the same time. The decision was made on the recommendation of an external consulting company.
However, according to the association, you can arrive at the stand to watch the match safely, and it is not in danger of collapsing. However, the consulting company will later carry out further investigations.