This Friday will be the inauguration of the football
turf pitches at the national football center of the Guam Football
Association, the national football body of the Pacific island of
Guam. The inauguration ceremony will be led by FIFA President
Joseph S. Blatter together with the Asian Football Confederation
(AFC) President Zhang Jilong. A Desso delegation has been invited
to attend this event, as the football pitches were designed and
installed by Desso Sports Systems as part of the island nation's
Goal III and Goal IV projects.
The advantages of artificial turf for Guam
As the island of Guam is often visited by tropical storms,
the existing natural grass pitches were often not playable due to
the heavy rainfalls.
The Football Association of Guam aimed to further professionalize
and expand its infrastructure so that the increasing number of
players could always play and train on a perfect pitch.
The advantages of the artificial pitches are the constant playing
quality regardless of the weather conditions, unlimited capacity
(up to 5 times more than standard natural grass) and the limited
maintenance needed.
Thanks to their excellent drainage capacity and special anchorage,
the football turf pitches will be able to withstand tropical
storms.
FIFA encourages the use of football turf as the best
alternative to good natural grass pitches
FIFA supports the worldwide use of artificial turf for
playing and training from both a quality and cost
perspective.
In certain regions of the world it is difficult to grow and
maintain perfect natural grass pitches at a reasonable cost, due to
the climatic conditions.
In order to further promote football in those areas, FIFA has
developed the FIFA Goal project. With this long-term project,
football regions can count on support for their facilities,
development of youth football, training and coaching, and so
forth.
Desso's expertise as FIFA Preferred Producer.
Desso Sports Systems is internationally renowned as the
European pioneer in innovative sports pitches for both 100 %
artificial grass as hybrid natural grass pitches. Desso is a FIFA
Preferred Producer for football turf. The cooperation seeks to
develop football pitches that meet and exceed the challenges of
future football players at all levels.
Desso Sports has built the pitches in Guam in cooperation with its
Australian partner HG Sports Turf.
With these projects, Desso aims to further develop its presence on
the Oceanic market.