With Juventus FC having the ambition of being competitive in every possible league every season, their grounds team is facing the monumental task of delivering the best possible surface both in the stadium as well as at the training centre and the academy. During the recent ESSMA Pitch management workshop, agronomist Francesco Gianello and groundsman Mattia Sara revealed what it takes.
The Allianz Arena in Turin was purposely built to host the home games of Juventus FC. However, starting this season, the venue will become more multifunctional when the Italian national rugby team hosts New Zealand at the venue in November. A successful hosting of this event could see the venue host more (rugby) events in the future. In order to facilitate the match, the grass team will have two weeks to prepare the pitch. As Juventus FC is scheduled to play away matches in the period, the team has another two weeks for the field to recover.
With a capacity of only 41,500 seats, it is moderate in size compared to that of the club’s historical rivals in Naples, Rome or Milan, not to mention that the arena’s Juventus FC is often playing in when it participates in the UEFA competitions. However, when going through the list with (former) players, it is evident that size doesn’t really matter. Dino Zoff, Andrea Pirlo, Michael Laudrup, Paul Pogba, Pavel Nedved, Roberto Baggio, Fabio Capello, Edgar Davids, Zinedine Zidane, Michel Platini, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo are just some of the players who, at some point in their career, plied their trade at Juventus FC. “This stadium was inaugurated in September 2011 and initially had a pitch that consisted of Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass. This field was renovated in 2016 when we installed sods from Hendriks Graszoden in the Netherlands. The year after, we decided to reinforce this pitch with the Desso Grassmaster yarns in a two-by-two centimetre grid, going 18 centimetres deep,” said Gianello at the start of his presentation. “In 2021 we switched to SIS Pitches and had them stitching the field 18 centimetres deep again following a reseeding with Kentucky bluegrass. This summer we repeated both processes,” he concluded his historical introduction of the pitch.
Annual renovation
The stadium pitch is renovated every year. “It depends a bit on the build-up of organic matter between the synthetic yarns, but thus far we have opted to renovate the field with the Koro Fieldtopmaker every year.” Elsewhere in this edition, you can read more about how the builders of maintenance equipment have embraced the idea that hybrid surfaces require a different type of scarifier. “We usually start with the renovation in the first week of June and we sow the turf on-site with 100% ryegrass. Sticking to this time schedule, allows us to have the pitch ready for the first match, which is usually around mid-August.” This sounds easier than it is in reality. “The high temperatures we experience in Italy during summer make this very challenging. And it is aggravated by the exposed synthetic yarn fibres.” The plastic fibres reflect the heat, thereby temporarily further increasing the ambient temperature within the stadium bowl until the grass has fully matured.
Maintenance equipment
The stadium pitch is maintained daily by a team of three who can draw on support from their colleagues at the training centre for the first team, Continassa, or those looking after the pitches at the academy, Vinovo. For the stadium field, they use three types of mowing machines: a Denis G 860, an Infinity Cut and six Honda rotary mowers. “We usually aim for cutting at 21 millimetres height, but, of course, that depends on the season and on a possible request by the coach which is why it varies during the year.” The grass is cut almost every day, something that became apparent when the delegates were taken to the catacombs of the venue. In the absence of a storage facility inside the venue, all maintenance equipment was stored along the sides of the tunnel that is usually used for logistical purposes like enabling an ambulance to enter the pitch. All the mowing equipment was parked closest to the field.
“After each game, we use our Terrarake to try to control the build-up of organic matter, which is not easy.” The team also has access to a Bellon verticut machine, whose 1.2 mm blades are spaced at 30 centimetres.
Every second week, the field is decompated with a Procore 648 with solid tines, while the fertilisation is done by means of a pedestrian sprayer. “We either use a granular or liquid fertiliser or a bio stimulant.”
Essential support equipment
Gianello points out that, apart from the “standard equipment” the grass team uses, they cannot do without some other essential equipment to maintain the pitch of the Allianz Arena. “We use a UV-C machine to control diseases.” UV-C equipment uses[pms-restrict subscription_plans=”7998, 10994″]LED lights to produce ultraviolet in the ultraviolet-C wavelength range. This inactivates bacteria and viruses. He remarked that the unit is used every day. “It takes approximately 90 minutes to treat one field.” They also have two turfpods, which help monitor the climate data. “This data helps us adjust the settings of the grass grow lighting rigs.” Juventus FC uses nine SGL Mu 363, three BU 50 and three MU 27 rigs as well as one IQ55 greenhouse unit.
Thanks to the rigs, the grass team can make sure that even those sections of the pitch that receive excessive shade will receive sufficient light to keep the pitch healthy. The lights can also be used to speed up germination after overseeding during the colder times of the year. “We use the lighted rigs generally from September to April, whereby we’ll place them for 48 hours on one part of the field before we move them for another 48 hours onto a different part of the field.” He admits that the lights remain over the sections for a longer period that what often is advised. “It is literally strong light for the turf, but we prefer it this way, as this is working in our environment. Sometimes we need to push the grass for recovery. We noticed that if we only use them for 8 hours or 16 hours, we will have to move them more often, plus we would mark the pitch hence we decided on this strategy. Using them for 48 hours straight goes against what is said in scientific papers, which advise the supplementing of light for maximum 16 hours a day to respect the natural light cycles grass experience, but we had issues, and it turns out this strategy is working.”
Season-specific equipment
As is the norm at venues for professional games, the Allianz Arena also has pitch heating. “The system is fitted at 25 centimetres depth and the spacing between the heating coils is around 25 centimetres.” He calls the system a game-changer during wintertime, as the region can also experience freezing temperatures during winter. Snowfall is not uncommon in Turin. “That is why we have invested in a cover that can be quickly rolled out to protect the pitch.” They also use huge fans. “We have nine of those that we use to avoid too much humidity on the leaf both during the summer renovation as well as during the winter.”
Central storage
Where the grass team at the stadium lacks proper space to park their tools and equipment, the training venue for the first team, Continassa, houses a central storage space for all three grass teams. “Continassa was opened in 2018 and is only used by the main team. Before that time, they would train at Vinovo. However, as this venue was used by all 22 teams, it was decided to build a new training centre for only the first team.” Continassa is situated opposite the Allianz Arena. “It has four regular-sized pitches, of which one is finished with Kentucky Blue grass, one is a Desso Grassmaster hybrid system, one has been stitched with SIS Pitches, and one is finished with Horizon grass sods.” The four pitches are maintained by a team of eight. Head groundsman Sara checks each pitch every day before he advises the coach, currently Thiago Motta, about which pitch to use for that particular day. “The grounds team has two John Deere triplex mowers and 12 Honda pedestrian rotary mowers at its disposal. There is also a Terrarake, a Uniscratch, the Bellon verticut and one Litamina brush. To decompact, we use the Procore 648, the Terraspike, a Javelin and one Foley Air 2G2.” These units are used for maintaining the fields at all three Juventus FC venues. Continassa has its own lighting rigs and fan as well as its own snow protection cover.
Own “water plant”
The oldest of the three Juventus venues is its academy Vinovo. “It opened in 2006 and is used by 21 teams, including our Next Gen, our women’s team, the U19 and U18 youth teams.” The venue has 10 pitches. “Two of them are hybrid pitches. One is a Desso Grassmaster, while the other one is a Desso Playmaster backing-based hybrid pitch. We also have five natural turf pitches with warm season grasses, which offer a green coverage for training during the summer. We call these Mediterranean hybrid pitches, as they offer us the benefits of a hybrid pitch, however, without synthetic yarns in them. Furthermore, we have three synthetic turf pitches.” A team of nine people is maintaining all fields.
Gianello hails the five turf pitches. “The net of rhizomes and stolons that the Bermuda creates helps us a lot to have a more stable surface during winter. The planarity is better, as is the traction, compared to a natural pitch with only poa, Kentucky bluegrass or perennial ryegrass.”
Vinovo has a small lake. “This is crucial for us for to irrigate the pitches during the summertime. Sometimes it’s enough, sometimes it’s not enough. When it is not enough, we use industrial waste-water to supplement our water need.”
The grounds team at Vinovo has one John Deere fairway mower, two John Deere triplex mowers and 10 Honda pedestrian mowers at its disposal. “For cleaning and raking, we pretty much have the same equipment here as we have at Continassa.” For overseeding, the team uses a multi seeder or an over Redexim seeder 1575, while a Redexim Rink DS 1200 is used for top dressing.” Vinovo has its own snow protection and winter protection covers. “These geotextiles are used to speed up the germination of the seeds or to avoid freezing of the pitch during winter.”
As Juventus FC is known for leaving nothing to chance when it comes to assembling its main team, after visiting the club’s infrastructure, the same can be said for its training facilities.
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