By Darragh McDonagh
European champions Paris Saint-Germain are set to play their home games on Irish turf this season – after replacing its pitch at the Parc des Princes with 700 rolls of grass imported from Ireland.
A series of heatwaves in France this summer had damaged the playing surface at the stadium, forcing the club to play its first ‘home’ match away to Rennes on 23 August, for which it incurred a €150,000 fine.
In a bid to rectify the issue ahead of PSG’s match against Monaco on Friday, its head groundsman, Jonathan Calderwood, travelled to Ireland to go turf shopping with his team last week, according to L’Equipe.
They chose the Irish product ahead of several other options, and 700 rolls measuring one metre wide and up to 10 metres long were shipped to France and installed over three days on 26, 27 and 28 August.
The gardening team then got to work to promote root development, and a series of tests took place to assess how the turf had settled and whether it would be ready for the match against Monaco.
Despite the short timeframe, the new pitch has now got the green light and is ready to host a top-level match without posing any danger to the players, the club has said.
The cost of replacing the heat-damaged pitch with the imported Irish turf has not been disclosed. However, L’Equipe reported that estimates exceeding €500,000 are not unusual for this type of project.
PSG were fined €150,000 by the Competitions Commission of the League last week for not being able to organise the match against Rennes at home, as planned in the Ligue 1 schedule.