KUALA LUMPUR – Terengganu FC commends the dedication of its state sports council in consistently ensuring the impeccable condition of the pitch at Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin stadium during matches.
The 50,000-capacity stadium, constructed in 2008 with a budget of approximately RM270 million, is currently the biggest stadium in the east coast region.
The pitch has been used entirely for football purposes since its construction.
Recently, it was upgraded from cow grass (axonopus compressus) to Bermuda Princess 77, which is a hybrid grass between artificial grass and cow grass, similar in quality to that of Tan Sri Dato’ Haji Hassan Yunos Stadium in Larkin, Johor.
Speaking to Scoop, Terengganu FC chief executive officer, Mohd Sabri Abas, said that the state sports council has never compromised on the quality of the pitch through their regular upgrades over the years.
“It takes a lot of effort for the sports council to take care of the pitch quality, and they make sure that they always monitor it with full responsibility for the betterment of the sport in the state.
“Aside from their good pitch monitoring routine, they always ensure that the pitch is only used for football and not for anything else.
“The state sports council is always in conversation with us and ready to provide the best pitch quality so that the players can perform at their best during the games.
“Whatever we ask them, they provide, and their professionalism is one of the reasons why football fans across the country tend to say that Terengganu FC has one of the best football pitches in the Malaysia Super League,” said Sabri when contacted.
Aside from club football matches, the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin stadium pitch has also been rented by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) for the Harimau Malaya team to play two international friendly matches against the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea in June last year.
Last season, Terengganu finished sixth in the Super League and were semi-finalists in the FA Cup and finalists in the Malaysia Cup.
JDT was crowned the Super League champions as they finished at the top of the league with 76 points and zero defeats.
The Turtles also performed decently in the AFC Cup last year, finishing second in their group. However, it was not enough to advance to the knockout stage. – April 3, 2024