On Thursday Portugal and Czech Republic weren’t allowed onto the pitch ahead of their quarterfinal game in Warsaw. Condition of the pitch is alarming and parts of it will be relaid. It’s quite the opposite in Poznan and Wroclaw whose part in the tournament is over.

Ahead of games both sides are traditionally allowed onto the main pitch for pre-match training. This wasn’t the case ahead of yesterday’s quarterfinal between Czech Republic and Portugal at Stadion Narodowy. Both sides first used the pitch during the game itself and TV cameras showed that state of the pitch around infield areas is very poor.

After the game Martin Kallen who supervises the tournament announced improvement needs to be done before Warsaw’s last game, the semifinal between Germany/Greece and England/Italy. New rolls of grass will be laid in both infields and should reach expected quality before June 28, when the game will take place.

Situation isn’t that bad in Poznan and Wroclaw. In fact, both stadiums are to keep their new pitches, laid in May and used only three times during the group stages. It is unknown, though, how long current turf will remain untouched.

Wroclaw is planning on hosting a large rock event on July 7^th with Queen as the main performers. Then a friendly tournament with Śląsk, Benfica, PSV and Bilbao on July 21^st/22^nd, four games in total. League starts on August 17^th, but any further announcements will be made only after the pre-season events.

In Poznan this isn’t the case as there are no big plans for pitch exploitation ahead of season opening. However, this stadium is known for pitch problems as turf was already laid 8 times since the 2010 inauguration. Current contractor who also catered for grass during Euro 2012, Greenboss, warns Poznan that the grass will only survive the first part of the 2012/13 season if special lamps are bought to aid the sun. This has proven to be a big problem during previous operations as neither Poznan municipality, nor Lech are keen to fund the lamps.