UEFA Cup Final on Re-inforced Grass

UEFA Cup Final on Re-inforced Grass

Sporting Lisbon and CSKA Moscow battled for the UEFA Cup title at the José Alvalade Stadium, home of Sporting Lisbon. The grass pitch system they played on, from Desso DLW Sports Systems, has been influential in both the design and usage of stadiums.

The stadium was initially built for Euro 2004. Thanks to its creative architecture, acoustics and the quality of the grass pitch, the stadium was awarded the maximum score of five stars by UEFA.

Every seat in the 50,000 capacity stadium is covered by an instrumental roof construction. However, this innovation has its drawbacks: the special design of the stadium and the rounding out of the seating bowl hinder the air circulation. This makes it very difficult for the grass to grow. A standard natural grass pitch was not an option, therefore an equally creative solution had to be found.

DD GrassMaster, a reinforced grass pitch system produced by Desso DLW Sports Systems, was selected. Over 20 million artificial grass fibres are injected into the natural grass pitch. As the roots of the natural grass intertwine with the artificial grass fibres, a sturdy pitch construction is obtained.

By using this system, the organisers of Euro 2004 were sure of a high quality grass playing surface during the whole European championships.

During the tournament, five matches were played in the José Alvalade stadium, among them the Euro 2004 semi final between Portugal and the Netherlands.

Thanks to the good acoustics and the reinforced pitch, other events such as concerts can take place. In this way the financial cost of building this stadium could be justified.

Desso DLW Sports Systems is well established in the sports market. All over the world, more than 200 professional and amateur clubs are playing on a DD GrassMaster pitch. Top clubs like Real Madrid, Liverpool FC, Lokomotiv Moscow and Feyenoord are already convinced about DD GrassMaster. They all play on this grass reinforcement system in their stadiums.

For more information:
Rick Thorley, UK General Manager
rick@dessodlw.co.uk
www.dessodlw.com