On Friday, the operator in charge of the southern club’s pitch confirmed that it had been replaced.
After a month of controversy between, on the one hand, OGC Nice and the city of Nice, and, on the other, the operator of the Allianz Riviera stadium, Nice Eco Stadium, the latter announced on Friday the change of the lawn, the object of the discord.
“At the end of a period of review of possible options, Nice Eco Stadium (NES) announces the change of the Allianz Riviera pitch”the stadium’s operating company said in a statement on Friday. “The replacement and reinforcement work will begin immediately to ensure that it is available to OGC Nice for its next match.” against Saint-Étienne on September 20, assured NES.
A mushroom as a trigger
For the operator, this is the second change of pitch at the Allianz Riviera in three months, after having already laid a new turf before the Olympic Games matches and just after the concert by American rap star Travis Scott, which brought together 40,000 people on July 6.
But this “new lawn suffered an attack of pyriculariosis (a rapidly spreading fungus) at the end of July”from the start of the Olympic tournament, NES said to justify the “degraded playing surface” during Nice-Toulouse (1-1) on August 25.
The desire for a pitch “worthy of a European club”
In a letter dated August 16, 2024, made public on the 20th, the city of Nice had “notified NES (…) to fulfil its contractual obligations to provide an excellent pitch without any defects, worthy of a European club”. Otherwise, she “would reserve the right to take all necessary actions”.
On August 27, “informed of the operator’s intention (…) to refuse to renew the stadium’s lawn”the club had denounced “an incomprehensible stubbornness” from NES. “It’s not a showdown, but everyone is pulling towards themselves”explained the president of Nice, Jean-Pierre Rivère, at a press conference last Wednesday, while acknowledging that discussions were continuing. “There is an imperative: we cannot not have a lawn of perfect quality”he indicated, before concluding: “This is a subject on which we will not let things pass.”The club won its case.
