SIS Pitches installed the world’s first fully indoor hybrid pitch at the Kingdom Arena for Riyadh’s Season Cup.
Setting the stage for the cup’s major fixtures, including Al Nassr vs. Inter Miami, was a major challenge for SIS Pitches. Construction and development of the venue started in late 2023, giving the business a much shorter window to install and prepare a playing surface fit for top-level competition.
SIS also had to ensure the natural turf grew strong enough to properly secure the small percentage of synthetic fibers stitched into the arena’s surface, as is standard for hybrid pitches of this type. This process was made harder by the arena’s fully indoor design, which blocks out all sunlight. The SIS team worked around this by using ultraviolet growing lights to prepare the pitch in time.
Sela, the developer responsible for the arena, requested a game-ready playing surface in just three weeks, much shorter than the typical window for a major development of this type. This aligned with the pace of construction for the wider stadium, which was completed in just 60 days.
SISGrass, the solution specified by SIS, merges natural turf with a small percentage of polymer yarn. This mixture is injected by the company’s patented electric stitching machine, which can cover 1,300 square meters per day with a 90mm shallow stitch.