Bap blasts synthetic pitch before Flamengo v Atlético-MG: “Plastic pitch” | OneFootball

Flamengo president reinforced his stance against artificial turf in Brazilian football

Flamengo is preparing to face Atlético-MG on Sunday (26) at Arena MRV in the Brazilian Championship. Before that, Fla president Bap blasted the use of artificial turf in Brazilian football.

— Flamengo’s opinion on this matter is very clear. Flamengo believes that top-level football—and just look at the five biggest leagues in the world—where do you see plastic pitches? Are you going to build a league in Brazil to make it bigger, more profitable, and with plastic pitches? It’s a joke. But this situation needs to be discussed within the CBF. Flamengo has already made its position clear. Plastic pitches are a way to keep football alive in countries that spend eight or nine months of the year under ice -, said Bap, before adding:

— Then we take an idea like that and bring it here just to lower maintenance costs? It’s not only because of that. It’s to make money from concerts. If you want to make money from concerts, then you should switch industries and go do concerts. If you want to make money from football, from strong football, you should defend natural grass pitches. This point of view from Flamengo has been clear and objective for a long time. But can Flamengo decide this? No, it can’t. If it could, it would have already acted in that direction. The one who can decide is the CBF -, he concluded.

What does Flamengo think?

Back at the end of 2025, Flamengo officially asked the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) to standardize pitches in Brazil. After that, the entity’s president, Samir Xaud, said that at some point he will discuss the issue with the clubs.

At the time, however, Samir Xaud stressed that, until further notice, the choice is up to each club that manages its own stadium. As a result, some teams continue using artificial turf, such as Palmeiras, Botafogo, and Atlético-MG.

What now?

While awaiting new decisions on the use of artificial turf, Flamengo is preparing to face Atlético-MG at Arena MRV on Sunday (26). The match kicks off at 8:30 p.m. (Brasília time) and is valid for the 13th round of the Brasileirão.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.