FC Lugano's new hybrid pitch
In April 2025, we began preparing the sub-base of the new AIL Arena, the Ticino club's new stadium, so that FC Lugano's new hybrid pitch could take shape.
Just 44 days after the start of the works, all structural works on the sub-base were completed: drainage system, gravel layer, FLexHeat undersoil heating system, FLexAqua automated irrigation system and the subsequent growing profile.
Here is the process in detail...
Drainage system
The drainage system of FC Lugano's hybrid pitch is longitudinal, ensuring efficient water management.
Using state-of-the-art laser-guided equipment, linear drains with a 0.5% fall and 5-metre spacings were set out and excavated, before the trenches were backfilled with highly draining gravel.
An additional 15 cm drainage layer, made up of washed gravel and levelled according to a four-way fall configuration, ensures excellent water evacuation even in adverse weather conditions.
The work was completed by excavating the main trench for the FLexHeat undersoil heating system.
Irrigation and heating system
35 pop-up sprinklers cover the entire surface of FC Lugano's hybrid pitch, ensuring uniform distribution and even coverage.
At the same time, the radiant pipework for the cooling and heating system was installed on the gravel layer and then connected to the main manifold.
The Ticino club's hybrid turf is therefore constantly controlled, maintaining optimal turf temperatures in both the colder and warmer seasons.
Rootzone construction
After the sub-base works, the upper layers were installed: a first silica sand layer of around 20 cm, with a 0-2.5 mm particle size distribution, and a final, finer 10 cm sand layer, 0-2 mm, to promote uniformity.
Everything was amended with 10% selected compost, in order to increase organic matter content, improve cation exchange capacity and optimise the conditions for establishment and root system development.
Seeding and establishment
Seven weeks after the start of construction of FC Lugano's hybrid pitch, the field was declared ready for seeding, with 200 kg of a pure blend made up of two Poa pratensis cultivars, sown in the first days of September.
The choice of Poa pratensis was purely strategic: with plenty of time available before handover of FC Lugano's new hybrid pitch, we opted for this Poa, slower to establish but more resilient.
Germination took place after around ten days.
Alongside seeding, a starter fertiliser application was carried out to stimulate rooting, followed by further nitrogen fertiliser applications to promote growth.
Project completed
Finally, in early April, the pitch was stitched using our Vertix system, a vertical reinforcement process that transformed the field from a natural grass pitch into a hybrid pitch.
FC Lugano's new hybrid pitch is the result of construction, technology and agronomic management, providing the Ticino club with a latest-generation, high-performance playing surface worthy of the club's major ambitions.
To find out more, do not hesitate to contact us!
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