ARTIFICIAL TURF
FOOTBALL TURF

Artificial turf for football

Football/soccer is a sport with a lot of physical contact to the surface. Tackling and sliding are integral parts of the game for field players and goal keepers have to jump and plunge in order to catch the ball. Early artificial turf systems were not optimal for this practice, due to low suspension and high friction of the synthetic yarns. Players had to wear trousers and long-sleeve shirts to avoid skin burns and other injuries.

In other sports, like tennis or hockey, players have less intensive contact to the surface. In American Football the players wear protective clothing. Therefore soccer was the ultimate challenge for artificial turf producers. Special infill systems, new yarn grades and innovative underlay solutions were found to provide soccer players with the optimal surface for their sport.

UEFA & FIFA issue common standards

In 2005 artificial turf has become fully established in the world of soccer. Both, the European football association UEFA - responsible for the Champions League - and the world football association FIFA - organizer of the World Cup - agreed to approve the latest generation of artificial turf. Physical properties, suspension, friction, ball rebound and rolling characteristics as well as injury risk for players and economic arguments where examined in depth before common quality standards and testing rules were issued.

Artificial turf pitches that fullfill these tough criteria and that have been certified by accredited laboratories are now qualified for all kind of football leagues and international matches. From now on football clubs will use artificial turf systems not only for training purposes, but also for the main pitch of the stadium. This success was generated by new turf constructions with an infill of sand and rubber granulate and by improvements in yarn properties.

3rd generation artificial turf

Early artificial turf systems had low piles and were tufted very densly in order to create a very stable and equal carpet like surface. This first generation is still used for hockey and landscape gardening. The disadvantages were very bad sliding and friction characteristics that even caused higher risk of injury in football.

The second generation introduced the concept of sand infills. This improved the sliding characteristics and the stability of the yarn and artificial turf became popular in tennis and in football for training pitches. Although after some time the sand infill became compressed and bad suspension and again injury risk were the consequence.

Today’s 3rd generation artificial turf systems have especially high piles or “blades of grass”. The infill is a combination of siliceous sand and rubber granulate, that gets no longer compressed over time. New yarn grades, like multiple monofil polyethylene yarns, and improved underlay systems guarantee optimal playing characteristics. Low friction parameters, suspension and ball rebound characteristics equal to natural grass make artificial turf now the optimal surface for football.

see 3G-turf cut