Brazilian Pitches are Prepared for the 2016 Olympic Games

Seed from DLF is returning to the sports surfaces of Brazil for the second time in two years.

The pitch preparations include the venues hosting the women and men’s football and rugby-seven tournament. August is Brazil's cool season, so turf preparations must overcome the grasses natural dormancy. The solution was to adopt the same grass technology used in 2014; overseeding with a special turf mixture developed through DLF plant-breeding research. The mixture, which has proven to be optimal for the Brazilian climate and geography, provides a perfect and uniform playing surface for all matches of the tournament. It includes the top-performing perennial ryegrass varieties and exclusive 4turf® technology.

-We are proud to offer our grass seed technology for this major sports event. Based on the excellent pitch performance at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, we are confident that the pitch quality will fulfill the high expectations, says Søren Halbye, CCO in DLF Group.

DLF are working closely with the grass specialists and professional contractors responsible for the pitches in Brazil, who are experienced in optimising the local sports pitches. The experiences from the precious World Cup tournament being a great benefit.

Alexandre Vieira dos Santos, part owner of Greenleaf Gramados, the company installing most of the pitches hosting the Olympics’, says:

-Our main challenge is to get all pitches looking good and into perfect shape during our winter season. Brazil is a huge continent and the logistic challenges of getting products from the North to the South are immense. Back in 2013 at the Confederation Cup, prior to the Word Cup in Brazil 2014, we identified the high-performing ryegrass mixture from DLF to have the best overseeding performance.

-The key features we consider are the best adaptability to different climate zones and a good shadow tolerance, which is critical given the architecture of the stadiums. Our experience with the pitch preparation and outstanding results at the 2014 World Cup has given us a key advantage for preparing the pitches for the 2016 Olympic Games.

-The pitches will be under intensive pressure, some of them hosting 10 games during 10-14 days, so we cannot compromise on grass quality. We have been working with the sports perennial grass seed mixture from DLF for several years now, and we know we can rely on its performance and high wear-tolerance during the competition”

-Overseeding has become a regular practice between April and August, the autumn and winter period in Brazil, in the South amnd Southeast regions in Brazil

-Our professional groundsmen teams are very satisfied with the pitch preparations for the Olympic Games, and we can promise excellent grass pitches for the athletes for the 2016 Olympic Games.