“Pitch of the Year” awards for Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Holstein Kiel
8 June 2022 – DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga has honoured two clubs for outstanding pitch quality once again this year. The “Pitch of the Year” awards for the 2021-22 season goes to Bundesliga club Bayer 04 Leverkusen for its playing surface at the BayArena and Holstein Kiel for the turf at Holstein-Stadion – in Bundesliga 2, the award is therefore on its way to Kiel for the second time in a row.
The award-winning Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 clubs are:
Bundesliga
- Bayer 04 Leverkusen – ‘BayArena’
- FC Bayern München – ‘Allianz Arena’
- VfL Wolfsburg – ‘Volkswagen Arena’
Bundesliga 2
- Holstein Kiel – ‘Holstein-Stadion’
- FC Schalke 04 – ‘VELTINS-Arena’
- SV Darmstadt 98 – ‘Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor’
The winners were chosen by a jury comprising members of the German Turfgrass Society (DRG e.V.), who are also on the DFL expert commission tasked with safeguarding pitch quality in Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 stadiums. The winners will be presented with the Greenkeeping Awards and certificates during the Gatekeeper’s Information Meeting, currently planned for end of August.
Standards for pitch condition and properties are constantly rising. The “Pitch of the Year” award has been presented since 2013-14 to promote the quality concept for stadium pitches.
About the evaluation system
Evaluation for the award is based on three blocks: the “sporting criteria”, the “jury review of measured data” at the stadium, and the seasonal measured data from the in-house testing of stadium greenkeeping. The “sporting criteria” are geared towards the grading by the team captains of the participating clubs and the respective referees, who submit their verdict on the state of the pitch after Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 matches.