GreenFields installed the two synthetic turf soccer fields at the new Nike Soccer Centre of Excellence in Soweto, and another at the recently completed Football For Hope Centre in Khayelitsha and Alexandra. A noteworthy milestone was the awarding of Fifa’s coveted two-star rating to the GreenFields artificial football turf at Thulamahashe Stadium outside Nelspruit. Fifa’s stamp means the turf is of the highest international quality and Thulamahashe has already hosted Cosafa Cup matches.

Belgotex Floorcoverings CEO Frank Moffat, who took over the reins from the retired, long-serving Daniel Dolpire at the end of last year, told The Witness Monday that being the first South African artificial pitch to receive Fifa’s highest seal of approval is an indicator of the respect in which GreenFields is held by world sports bodies, including the International Hockey Federation (FIH).
The two GreenFields pitches in Soweto should receive the Fifa one- or two-star rating by the end of the year.

GreenFields is a key component of the LOC’s Artificial Turf Programme, which incorporates one pillar of their three-pillar World Cup Legacy project. The ATP’s goal is to upgrade rural, previously disadvantaged communities with world-class soccer facilities in order to leave an enduring social, economic and football legacy.

The plan is to build 52 artificial soccer turfs in SA. Lotto has allocated R170 million towards the first 27 (three fields in each of the nine provinces). GreenFields has been awarded four of the confirmed sites of the eight on tender.

The four GreenFields sites already under construction are in North Gauteng, North West Province, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. GreenFields is also tendering to become key suppliers in several municipalities’ urban renewal programmes such as the Johannesburg Development Agency’s legacy plans to upgrade and green 238 soccer fields across the city. Work has already been completed on several five-a-side pitches in Johannesburg.

GreenFields has also completed 22 synthetic turf hockey pitches in SA, including the more recent PMB Varsity, GHS, and Westville Three Schools’ Trust projects, with a further nine currently in progress.

Prior to Fifa Worldcup 2010, Belgotex Floorcoverings invested R20million in tufting and extrusion machinery and equipment to produce GreenFields artificial turf, to make the procurement and supply of local synthetic turf for new stadia and training facilities easier and more affordable.