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.