The Egyptian National Sports Council (NSC) has decided to close Alexandria Stadium for six weeks due to the poor state of the pitch. Home side Ittihad beat Petrojet 1-0 in the Egyptian Premier League last Sunday but both sides struggled to move the ball around. "Improvements were ordered after an inspection by the NSC," the stadium's manager Ahmed Khamis told FilGoal.com on Friday. "The stadium's closure is needed to re-lay the grass." The surface appeared to be in a good shape when Egypt hosted the U-20 World Cup in October last year. Renovations did not take place though during a long Egyptian league break, during which the national team won an unprecedented third successive Nations Cup title. Stadiums in Egypt are state-owned, with clubs paying the government to use them. Ittihad will play their next few games at Harras Hodoud's stadium, which is also located in Alexandria.