New surface and lighting
The football field at 40 Katoļu Street was renovated thanks to the successful cooperation between the Olympic Center Ventspils, Latvian Football Federation and Ventspils municipality. The Latvian Football Federation financed the installation of the new artificial grass surface, and the Ventspils municipality financed the dismantling of the old surface and the preparation of the base layer, as well as the installation of new LED lighting in the stadium.
On Sunday, April 21, the renovated Katoļu iela football stadium was played this season the first big football competition – Optibet Future League Round 3 match between JFK Ventspils and Valmiera FC-2/VSS. Before the big games the young footballers also took to the field – the teams of participants of the Ventspils young footballers’ tournament.
During the break of the tournament, a ceremonial opening of the renovated football field was held, in which representatives of the Latvian Football Federation and the management of Ventspils municipality took part. In his address, the president of the Latvian Football Federation, Vadims Lashenko, expressed his satisfaction with the fact that football in Ventspils continues to develop and the new generation shows interest in this sport. Also, the president of the Football Federation expressed the hope that the cooperation between the federation and the Ventspils municipality will continue successfully, implementing the construction of the dressing rooms of the football stadium on Katoļi Street, as well as other football infrastructure development projects, in the near future.
On the other hand, the 1st Deputy Chairman of the Ventspils City Council for cooperation issues, Guntis Blumbergs, in his speech lingered on the memories of the opening of the football field in 2005 and the qualitative changes that the football stadium at Katoļu Street 40 has experienced in these almost 20 years. In 2014, the artificial grass cover of the field was already replaced once, but during these years it had worn out, so a new cover was laid last year in cooperation with the Latvian Football Federation, and energy-efficient lighting was built in the stadium this year. “Our cooperation agreement also provides for a third stage – by December 31, 2025, changing rooms must be built here in accordance with all the necessary requirements,” stressed Guntis Blumbergs.
“In the last four years, we have renovated and built 16 pitches in Latvia, which is a very good result and indicator. It is not so easy to implement, because the municipality also needs to find funding for the preparation of the base of the square. On behalf of the Latvian Football Federation, we paid approximately 160 thousand euros for this cover. It is made in a Dutch company GreenFields – in one of the largest companies in Europe that produces artificial turf. This cooperation with local governments in the construction and restoration of artificial turf football fields is vitally necessary for Latvia, because our weather does not allow training on natural grass in early spring and late autumn,” stressed Lashenko.
Future plans include the construction of dressing rooms
Olympic Center Ventspils chairman of the board Jurģis Liepājnieks told that the Katoļu iela football field is quite busy – sports lessons of the neighboring 2nd elementary school as well as sports club training sessions and competitions take place there. “Currently, it seems that tournaments are held almost every other week. There are many football teams, and tournaments are held at the same time on the football fields of Parventas and Katoļu streets. In the Future League, the first spring games are also played here, at the football stadium on Katoļu ielas, because the natural grass pitch is not yet ready. Therefore, all home games, I think, until the second half of May, will be played here, on the square of Katoļi Street,” said Liepājnieks.
The size of the surface of the Katouli Street football field, including the safety and warm-up area, is 101.5 m x 65.5 m and meets the requirements of a UEFA category I and II stadium.
At the beginning of this year, new lighting was also installed in the stadium – 32 LEDs spotlights with a brightness value of 350 lux. The lighting was completely replaced, because the old metal halide lamps had already served their time, their energy efficiency did not fully meet today’s requirements. With the new LED lighting, the requirement that the artificial lighting should have the same intensity throughout the area is fulfilled. The Latvian Football Federation, based on the lighting measurements carried out in January of this year, has recognized that according to the Football Stadium and Infrastructure Regulations of the Latvian Football Federation, the lighting in the football stadium on Katoļu street 40 meets the requirements of the 1st league stadium category.
In the near future – by the end of 2025 – it is planned to build dressing rooms at the football stadium at 40 Katoļu Street. Work is currently underway on the design of the dressing rooms. There will be two dressing rooms at the stadium – for each team, a separate block for referees’ dressing rooms and a separate sanitary unit for spectators. The dressing rooms of the teams and judges and the sanitary block will be modular buildings. The dressing rooms are designed according to the rules of football stadiums and infrastructure developed by the Latvian Football Federation. Regarding the infrastructure of team dressing rooms, the conditions in the 1st League are the same as in the Premier League – each dressing room must have at least 25 seats with clothes hangers, five showers, a massage table, etc.
