Celebration bermudagrass has been chosen to cover the pitch for five of the stadiums for next years World Cup 2014 in Brazil. The five facilities, scattered throughout the country, include the site of the finals Estádio Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro. Celebration was selected for its wear tolerance and recovery and also for its ability to handle more shade than most bermuda varieties. Brazil-based turfgrass grower Itograss provided the sod.
“Celebration is a great ally we can rely on to have a great playing surface, even in adverse conditions with limited sunlight and intense use,” said Alexandre Vieira dos Santos, part owner of Greenleaf Gramados, the company installing the fields. “Celebration adapts and performs well under conditions where no one would expect to have high quality fields. It was very evident that Celebration can maintain great quality under heavy wear, recovering quickly from damage caused by excessive games.”
Celebration has some of the quickest damage recovery of all grasses on the market today. This will be important with the amount of games to be played on the fields leading up to the World Cup and during the Cup itself. Championship stadium Maracanã already hosted six matches in nine days during the month of November. Even after those games, the grass showed World Cup quality standards required by FIFA, the international soccer governing body.
Celebration will likely be involved in another massive event in 2016, as one or more of the fields used for the 2014 World Cup will be used for the Rio Summer Olympic Games. Celebration is available to the public in Brazil and also domestically through licensed producers. Sod Solutions is the patent holder and worldwide licensing agent. For more information about Celebration, visit SodSolutions.com.