Kosevo Pitch Fails Inspection, Sarajevo Loses Home Ground

FK Sarajevo cannot play home matches at Kosevo until further notice. The Competition Committee of the Football Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (NS/FS BiH) made the call on August 5, 2026, after the Kosevo pitch failed a follow up inspection, three days after Dino Merlin played his last concert on that same stadium.

Merlin sold out the Asim Ferhatovic Hase stadium three times over last weekend, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Roughly 200,000 people passed through the gates across the three nights. The pitch was covered with protective flooring for the shows, the standard safeguard for concerts held on football grounds. Once the flooring came off, parts of the turf were visibly torn up, and photos of the pitch were already circulating by Monday.

What the ruling actually says

The club published the decision itself, without softening it.

“Based on the ruling of the NS/FS BiH Competition Committee dated August 5, 2026, FK Sarajevo will not be able to host league and cup matches at the Asim Ferhatovic Hase stadium until further notice. According to the findings of the NS/FS BiH pitch inspection commission, the main pitch at the Asim Ferhatovic Hase stadium currently does not meet the minimum requirements for playing WWin League and BiH Cup matches. Following its inspection, the commission found that despite repair work already underway, the conditions for playing matches are not in place,” FK Sarajevo said in its statement.

In the same statement, the club also spelled out who pays the price: “The heaviest consequences of this decision, and of the circumstances that led to it, will fall on the club, which will not be able to play its home matches at Kosevo, and on our fans, who have been denied the chance to open the new season right there at Kosevo.” The club added that the public would be told later where its home matches will actually be played.

What is being done to the pitch before Saturday?

The Centar municipality in Sarajevo, which owns the stadium, issued a statement today insisting that work on the pitch is going on around the clock. Officials from the mayor’s office say intensive repair work is underway, with the aim of having the stadium ready for the opening round match on Saturday.

• hydroseeding is being used as the repair method, a fast track way of regreening the damaged turf
• pitch stabilization work is proceeding at the same time
• materials, machinery and labor were secured in advance
• the municipality’s press office announced it will issue daily updates on the pace of the work and the state of the pitch, right up to Saturday’s match

The municipality says the goal of those updates is “timely and truthful information for the club, the fans and the public at large.”

Why the club was worried before the first note was even played

This is not a surprise that came out of nowhere. FK Sarajevo had already raised concerns while the concerts were still being scheduled, precisely over possible damage to the pitch, and asked for guarantees. The organizers assured the club that the turf would be protected. The calendar left no room for error: three mass events back to back, followed by the season opener just six days later.

Even the weekend itself did not go smoothly. The first night was marred by ticketing chaos, with part of the crowd left standing outside the stadium, tickets in hand, while the concert was already underway inside.

The opening round of the WWin League of Bosnia and Herzegovina is set for Saturday, August 8, with Sarajevo due to host Radnik from Bijeljina as the home side, kicking off at 9 pm. Until then, the two sides are telling different stories: the federation has a commission’s finding that stands, the municipality has hydroseeding and a promise that work is going on around the clock. A fresh pitch inspection will settle it, not statements.