Polytan soccer courts in a class of their own

FOOTBALL PITCHES AS ACTIVATING URBAN SPACES

POLYTAN SOCCER COURTS IN A CLASS OF THEIR OWN

Author Polytan GmbH, DE – 86666 Burgheim, www.polytan.com Photos Andreas Keller

For many passionate players, street football fields are the places where they first come into contact with football. This is one reason for Polytan, in consultation with Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern München, to reinterpret and equip the classic street football field. Two examples from Dortmund and Obersendling.

Borsig district, Dortmund Dortmund knows how to honour its football heroes, most recently the legendary midfielder Max Michallek, who starred for Borussia Dortmund (BVB) in the 1940s and 1950s both on and off the pitch. Michallek won the German Championship twice with BVB – before the Bundesliga was established.

Located near Borsigplatz, a memorial was dedicated to the BVB star in 2022 in celebration of what would have been his 100th birthday. Michallek grew up nearby, and it’s where he learned to play football. BVB’s heart still beats strong in Borsigplatz, the neighbourhood where the club was founded in 1909.

Since the spring, a steel statue of Michallek has stood on a carbon plinth – a nod to the city’s industrial past – in the rear courtyard between Oesterholzstraße 44 and 54, which is now officially known as Max Michallek Platz. The installation is the final element of major revitalization project in the West Borsig district, where almost 830 apartments have been constructed by the real estate company VIVAWEST.

The official opening was dubbed “The Place for New Things”, with the aim of rejuvenating the Borsig district. In the middle of the courtyard is a new Polytan football court. It was designed in consultation with VIVAWEST and BVB, and installed in cooperation with HVG Grünflächenmanagement GmbH. The facility features small pitches, fully equipped with synthetic turf systems or synthetic surfaces, goals, barriers and ball nets.

The district used to be known simply as “Bolzplatz,” meaning “football field”, so it is fitting that a football court is now located here. The idea is to encourage children and young people to learn and practise playing football “on the street”, so to speak. Featuring the BVB logo, the court is equipped with our

robust and durable PolyPlay S all-round surface in slate grey, a colour that reflects the urban character of the area while also paying homage to BVB’s club colours (black and yellow).

Sugar Mountain, Obersendling The Sugar Mountain complex in Sendling near Munich is located on the grounds of a former concrete plant. Today it serves both as an art and culture project, as well as a meeting point for people and culture in the neighbourhood. The “concrete playground” also has a wide range of sports on offer, both outdoors and indoors. The only thing missing until now was a classic football field.

This gap was filled at the Sugar Mountain complex by FC Bayern and its partner adidas in spring 2022: a 30-by-15metre playing field for street footballers was installed, named the “Sugar Pitch”. With this five-a-side pitch, FCB wants to contribute to popular sport in Munich – together with local sports and school organisations, it will provide children and young people with opportunities to get together and grow.

Since the use of environmentally friendly materials was a decisive criterion for FC Bayern when designing the “Sugar Pitch”, Polytan suggested the world’s first CO2-neutral artificial football turf, LigaTurf Cross GT zero, which impressed the club. The surface is highly environmentally friendly, without compromising on durability or functionality. The surface is based on sustainable, organic PE raw materials, sourced from non-recyclable sugar cane. The logos of the two partners, FC Bayern and adidas, are integrated in the surface of the turf. In addition to its realistic appearance, perfect playing properties, and simple maintenance, another bonus of the playing field is that its sand-filled turf system is completely free of rubber granules.