Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Professional Football Federation Conduct Comprehensive Survey on K League Football Pitch Turf Conditions

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 27th that it will conduct a comprehensive survey of the turf conditions at 27 soccer stadiums where K League matches are held, in collaboration with the Korea Professional Football League.

This initiative aims to find solutions following recent complaints from national team players who pointed out turf issues that have affected their performance.

The condition of the grass at Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 5th. [Photo by Yonhap News]

The Ministry and the Professional Football League have already established a dedicated turf management department within the league and begun investigating advanced cases in countries such as Japan. Starting from April, the department will inspect K League stadiums, analyze problems and causes related to turf conditions during the first half of the year, and develop customized improvement plans for each stadium.

In particular, considering the characteristics of each stadium and climatic conditions, they plan to derive practical improvement measures such as ▲replacing aging turf and improving the quality of artificial turf, ▲managing heating systems and drainage facilities, and propose long-term turf maintenance and management guidelines as well as strengthening on-site inspections.

Additionally, from this year, the Ministry will actively support stadium improvements such as turf replacement through public sports facility renovation support projects in cooperation with local governments, and plans to expand the number of stadiums subject to the comprehensive survey in the future.

A policy official from the Ministry stated, "The condition of the stadium turf is directly linked not only to players' performance but also to injury prevention and fans' satisfaction with watching the games, thus affecting the overall quality of the matches. Through this survey, we will derive practical measures to improve turf conditions and strengthen cooperation and communication with the league, clubs, and stadium operators to establish a sustainable management system."