The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) hosts a variety of competitions, the most prominent of which are the annual Champions League and the European Championship every four years. UEFA has specific pitch programs for all its competitions. Sportsfields.info had the opportunity to go behind the scenes and to understand what it takes to deliver a field worthy to host a final.
The 2024 UEFA Champions League between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid at Wembley Stadium was watched on TV by close to half a billion spectators in over 200 territories. This was over twice as much as the 202.4 million viewers audience insight company Nielsen recorded at least part of the Super Bowl earlier this year.
Wembley Stadium is by all means the Mecca of modern football and is blessed with a dedicated grounds team that works day in, day out to maintain the pitch in top condition. “The groundsman at that stadium virtually lives inside the stadium. He considers the pitch as his baby where in Berlin (which hosted the final and five games of the European Championship this summer) we had to deal with an outside contractor who might be less attached to the field,” a UEFA representative made the comparison. Passion aside, hosting a Champions League final is a totally different ballgame. “Our top management sees it as the Super bowl. The Super bowl is a huge event, and the Champions League, rightly so, should be up there in terms of a spectacle but also in terms of viewership.” This explains why an event that in the past would kick off with a sober ceremony on the field accompanied by the European hymn, has nowadays become a spectacle with dancers, singers, podiums and fireworks on the pitch. The implications of this, we will discuss later.
Decisions based on data
Every year, UEFA organises between 2.500 and 3.000 games all over Europe. Prior to each game, the pitch is tested by an independent testing company and all data is fed into a massive data lake. This data helps UEFA in their decision making. “All these visits are planned in advance or mandated when an issue or potential issue is identified. In the interest of transparency, we will share the report as soon as it has become available. These reports contain the results from testing, aligned with advice in the short, medium and long term. We maintain post visit contact and support by means of remote monitoring.” He points out that the data can be an important contributing factor when decisions need to be made that require escalation to senior management level like requiring a significant financial investment or an urgent intervention. “The data is there to protect stakeholders: the grounds keepers, stadium managers, consultants, UEFA. Because when UEFA turns up on site for a Champions League final, it is an army of suits that turn up, making demands of the ground keeper. They want to know if TV can go on the pitch and film something with the trophy. They want to have a ceremony rehearsal or a training session on match day etc. etc.”
Keeping all stakeholders in check
Once the venue for the Champions League final has been identified, the whole process starts with a kick-off meeting. “This usually takes place in September where we introduce ourselves and our consultants to the grounds team. We establish what their calendar looks like for the year. In terms of events, we look at whether there have been any challenges historically or at present, whether a club is playing at the venue and so on. This is followed by a pitch visit in November where we will take data. In February we will visit a turf farm that will have a backup pitch on standby in case there is a worst case scenario before we do a final inspection of the stadium pitch in March. This is our cutoff point where, if we have to replace the pitch in advance of the final, we would make that decision. From five days before the actual game, we will be present onsite and remain there until the end of the game.”
Data helped the game
The data from UEFA’s data lake is continuesly used to benchmark the stadium pitch of the final venue. “With Wembley Stadium, they obviously have Carl Stanley who is an expert groundskeeper and who has all the equipment, all the staff you would need. There is not much we can tell Karl in terms of knowledge and input into his work. But we can support him in those processes.” It turned to be vital this year. “One week ahead of the UEFA Champions League finale, Wembley hosted the FA Cup Final and Championship Play-Off Final. And with the UEFA Champions League Opening ceremony
To read further... | Or login when you are subscribed already |