The Bundesliga match between Eintracht Frankfurt and SC Karlsruhe
scheduled for Friday night has been postponed after a Madonna concert, German football officials said.
BERLIN, Sept 12 (Reuters) -
Pitch damage caused by fans at a Madonna concert forced officials
to postpone Eintracht Frankfurt's Bundesliga match at home to Karlsruhe on Friday.
Germany's Football League made the announcement around eight hours before kickoff
on Friday after a referee's inspection of the pitch at the Frankfurt World Cup stadium.
The club replaced parts of the turf after Tuesday's concert
but an inspection showed the pitch was still unplayable.
The decision to postpone the game was taken after a pitch inspection
by referee Thorsten Kinhoefer and officials of the German football league.
They said that the field, which had been replaced after the Madonna concert in the stadium on Tuesday,
would not be safe for the players and was unplayable.
Frankfurt coach Friedhelm Funkel, who was at the Madonna concert,
welcomed the decision, which he described as "a responsible one."
"That is not earth shattering," he said.
"It is simply a football match that will not be played."
His Karlsruhe counterpart Edmund Becker, however,
was angry at the way in which the postponement occurred.
"We are disgusted," Becker said.
"A postponement was already on the cards on Thursday,
but we were assured that the game would go ahead.
I can not understand how this happened."
Earlier on Friday, Kinhoefer had still said that the game could go ahead.
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