MONTREAL, Nov. 20, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The world's top players will play once again on FieldTurf for a FIFA World Cup - this time for the women's U20 World Cup. The 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Final, third place match, and quarter-finals, among 6 other preliminary games, will be played on the FieldTurf surface at Estadio Municipal de la Florida, permanent home to CD Audax Italiano, in Santiago de Chile, Nov. 19-Dec. 7, 2008.
"We are delighted that yet another FIFA World Cup will be played on FieldTurf," stated FieldTurf Tarkett CEO Joe Fields. "During the men's FIFA U20 World Cup held in 2007, the players overwhelmingly rated FieldTurf as the best synthetic surface in the tournament. We have put a lot of research into developing the world's best soccer-specific surface and I have no doubt that some of the world's brightest female football stars will enjoy the turf. FieldTurf surfaces consistently provide a pitch that allows the focus to remain on speed, skill, and superior ball-roll characteristics."
"FieldTurf's ideal biomechanical properties have made it the standard for high quality surfacing and the players have taken note," said Hank Steinbrecher, former Secretary General of the U.S. Soccer Federation. "The key with a FieldTurf pitch is that the technology was developed by athletes who understood what today's players need to perform at the highest of levels. Since the very beginning, FieldTurf always emphasized proper ball roll, safety, and overall grass-like playability when developing its products."
From June 30th - July 22nd, 2007 the world's elite young soccer talents competed in the FIFA U-20 Men's World Cup Canada 2007. 24 teams from around the world made history as they participated in the first FIFA World Cup ever to be played on artificial turf. Almost half of the 52 matches including the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals were featured on the FieldTurf at BMO Field in Toronto and Montreal's Olympic Stadium.
In addition to the U20 World Cups, other recent matches of note on FieldTurf include the Euro 2008 qualifier between Russia and England at Luzhniki Stadium in Russia, the 2008 Major League Soccer (MLS) All-Star game, the 2010 World Cup qualifier between Costa Rica and El Salvador, UEFA Cup Qualifiers, along with pivotal MLS and United Soccer Leagues (USL) championship games, among many others.
FieldTurf has been setting performance standards in the artificial turf industry since the very beginning. It was the first synthetic turf brand to receive the coveted 'FIFA Recommended' certification.
FieldTurf Tarkett, a Division of the Tarkett Group, is the largest entity in the sports surfacing industry and offers unparalleled leasing capabilities, engineering, manufacturing resources, and environmental standards. In addition to its world-renowned FieldTurf and Prestige brands of artificial turf, FieldTurf Tarkett provides an equally impressive range of sports flooring products that includes synthetic and hardwood basketball, volleyball and gymnasium flooring, squash and racquetball courts, floor protection and covering systems, and weight room flooring. Also in the range of FieldTurf Tarkett products are high performance indoor and outdoor running tracks including the Beynon track surfaces, playground surfacing, commercial and residential landscaping, and a complete range of tennis and golf surfaces. All of FieldTurf Tarkett's surfaces are developed, produced and installed with a concentration on sustainability and a commitment to protecting the environment. The company calls it 'Environmental Intelligence' and lives by this principle in every way. For more information, visit www.fieldturftarkett.com.