In 2010, for the first time in history, a FIFA World Cup™ has been played on grass pitches partly made up of artificial grass. The Desso GrassMaster system has been installed at the stadiums in Nelspruit (Mbombela) and Polokwane (Peter Mokaba).

With this type of hybrid pitch, the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ had a perfect pitch throughout the tournament. “Having studied the performance of the pitches in the previous world cup tournaments, we were concerned that the WC2010 pitches would start to deteriorate before the last game. We were extremely relieved that the Desso reinforced Mbombela pitch seemed to get better and better with each training session and match.”, says Neil Fourie, Sport Facility Design Consultant at Platinum Sport Consulting Ltd.

“Our pitch in Nelspruit was initially one of the most problematic in the tournament, having to be rebuilt three times.  On the last occasion the stadium management decided to install Desso GrassMaster.  I can honestly say that the pitch turned out to be one of the best, if not the best one we had.  After a match there were hardly any marks on it, to the extent that you could have played another match immediately.  The stability provided by GrassMaster was amazing.  Our pitch in Polokwane was also GrassMaster and once again its performance was outstanding.”, states Derek Blanckensee, Chief Competitions Officer at the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ Organising Committee South Africa.

Luis Maria Bonini, assistant-coach of the Chilean national  team, is also enthusiastic: “Thanks to the pitch conditions we were able to bring our favourite kind of football, one-touch passing, movement and pace. Even after the match, the surface remained very even."

The stadium pitches remain solid even after the World Cup. Neil Fourie: “A month after the World Cup we played the first Rugby tournament on the Mbombela pitch.  Even after all seven matches, the pitch was still in perfect condition.”