Sparta Rotterdam invests in club future with GreenFields artificial turf

Next football season Sparta Rotterdam will be playing on GreenFields® MX, the high-quality artificial turf system supplied by GreenFields. Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands.The club is looking to perform to optimum effect in the Jupiler League in a number of ways. The transition to artificial turf at Het Kasteel has been prompted by long-term objectives, including more intensive use of both the stadium and the pitch, which several teams can now use for training sessions and matches.

Sparta has a challenging season in prospect. The Rotterdam club wants to achieve a greater return on both sporting and financial fronts. One of the measures that the club has recently taken is the installation of the high-quality GreenFields® MX artificial turf system, which has been produced with the patented 3D matrix technology of materials technology group TenCate. The TenCate Trimension™ fibres are woven into the GreenFields® MX like ‘tussocks’, allowing the players to get their feet under the ball better and creating an unrivalled feel for the ball. This woven pitch is also 100% recyclable because it is made from just one type of material. These properties are in keeping with Sparta’s sustainability objectives.

New long-term sources

Sparta Rotterdam Chairman Rob Westerhof is passionate: ‘We want to tap new sources of income. With artificial turf we can use the Sparta Stadium far more intensively, and not just for football. This decision has been prompted by long-term thinking. It is also why the choice fell on the best artificial turf system currently available, GreenFields® MX with the TenCate Trimension™ fibre. We are a fantastic club, with a rich history and a unique stadium. We want to exude that feeling, that pride, from every Sparta pore again, including the young. Our artificial turf pitch is an investment in that future.”

Leo Beenhakker, fellow Sparta Rotterdam board member, is also convinced of the need for artificial turf: “Natural turf continues to have its charm of course, but artificial turf offers the club so many extra benefits that you have to be realistic. The pitch can now be used for 1,500 hours instead of just 75. From now on the squad can train in the stadium and the Sparta youth team can train and play matches here. This will help create a genuine home for our fans: Het Kasteel, possibly the most attractive stadium in the Netherlands, as a place where there is always something going on.