12.09.2023Bayer 04

Bayer 04 groundsmen receive Pitch of the Year award among peers at BayArena

The Bayer 04 groundsmen have again been awarded the Pitch of the Year award for the 2022/23 season as the BayArena beat competition from all the other Bundesliga clubs. It’s the second year in a row the Werkself have picked up the accolade for best turf in Germany’s top flight. The award from the German FA (DFB) was handed over to Leverkusen’s head groundsman Georg Schmitz at a meeting of all Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and Women Bundesliga’s groundspeople at the BayArena on Monday, 11 September.

“We’re proud that we can continue to offer such quality turf for our first team. This award is once again confirmation of our long-term work and is a credit to the whole grounds team at Bayer 04,” said Schmitz. There were 92 groundspeople from clubs across the Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and Women’s Bundesliga who met at the BayArena on Monday to discuss all sorts of issues regarding caring for pitches, including optimal lighting, fertilisation and watering. A look around the Leverkusen facilities and whole training complex was also part of the schedule.

It’s the third time Bayer 04 have won the Pitch of the Year award. Felix Duden, CEO of TecArena-Plus GmbH, was pleased with the accolade and said: “It’s our constant goal to create optimal playing conditions for the team with our turf of consistently high quality. It makes us proud to know we’ve done that once again.”

The prize for outstanding pitches in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 was introduced in 2013/14. The voting is partially based on the grading of team captains and the referees in terms of the condition of the pitch during the whole season, as well as different measuring points by an industry jury and the groundsman’s own scrutiny.

The winner of the Women’s Bundesliga Pitch of the Year for 2022/23 is yet to be announced. It will likely be handed over at the first home game of the victorious team.

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