As of the 2022/23 season, Sparta Rotterdam will say goodbye to the artificial grass pitch at Het Kasteel. The Rotterdammers have been playing on artificial grass since 2014, but now decide to make the switch to natural grass again. Dusan Tadic, among others, has recently been particularly critical of the synthetic turf pitch of Sparta.
“We have to have normal grass in our competition. The Dutch teams are doing well in Europe, but it is not possible for us to play on artificial grass here. Every player plays fifty percent less. That is a lot, but you don’t have the fun either when you play on artificial grass,” Tadic said at the end of November after the away game against Sparta. “We make too many technical mistakes that we don’t normally make. KNVB, put away all this artificial grass.”
“Over the past few seasons, in consultation with the technical management, we have always weighed up the sporting advantages and disadvantages and made a decision accordingly. Today we as a club have made a different decision, we are returning to grass and thus fulfill a long-cherished wish of every Spartan and football enthusiast,” says general manager Manfred Laros on the Sparta website.
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