Overview
- The pitch invasion after Deportivo’s promotion match on Monday tore and burned large areas of the hybrid grass, smashed irrigation heads, damaged one goal and left broken glass at the club museum.
- Technicians from Deportivo and the RFEF are carrying out urgent repairs that include installing natural turf patches and hand-sewing damaged sections of the machine-stitched hybrid to meet the national team’s training schedule and the Thursday friendly.
- Hundreds of stadium seats were ripped from the stands with published counts varying between reports and the club has opened a cost study to quantify repairs while the mayor says insurance coverages apply.
- The RFEF has been told the pitch will be ready in time and the Spain–Iraq match is expected to go ahead, but the club still faces short-term logistics for replacing seats, fixing the goal and restoring the irrigation system.
- Riazor uses a machine-stitched hybrid surface that normally needs longer lead times to repair, so the manual sewing and tepe patches are improvised, time-sensitive measures that aim to protect player safety and keep the national team’s preparation on schedule.