New FNB Stadium pitch to return to standard in September - SMSA

Grobbelaar held an address for members of the South African Football Journalists Association (SAFJA), who had been invited for a walkabout on the new pitch, which was relaid ahead of the start of the 2025/26 season.

Ahead of tonight’s Betway Premiership fixture between Kaizer Chiefs and Polokwane City at the 2010 FIFA World Cup final venue, Grobbelaar shared an update on what to expect.

"It deserves no explanation, but at the end of last season, we all saw that the FNB Stadim pitch was not up to the normal standard, and with our pitch maintenance company Sport Turf, we then got international experts on the hybrid pitch model to come and advise us," said Grobbelaar

"The plan all along was to replace the pitch at the end of the 2026 season, but the recommendation was that [the previous pitch] would not last another season.

"So we sat down with the City of Johannesburg and we discussed the commercials, and then instructed the company to proceed with the refurbishment of the pitch.

"So they took out the whole pitch – started with silicone sand to bring in new sand and take out all the old stuff and started reseeding, and two week ago the Grass Master stitching machine arrived and they did the [artificial] fibre stitching.

"Normally it takes four months for a process like this to be completed, but we have this company 10 weeks – they started on 28 May and there's still a bit of work to be done [before tonight's match], but I'm really happy with what they achieved in this 10-week period."

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A process that usually takes four months was reduced to just 10 weeks, and Grobbelaar says expectations are that the pitch will be in optimal condition by September.

"On my assessment, weather depending and on advice from the experts, by the beginning of September it will be up to scratch," he confirmed.

SMSA, together with the COJ under whom they are contracted, revealed in April they had budgeted R17 million to refurbish the FNB and Orlando Stadium pitches, and Grobbelaar says the Nasrec venue should now be fit at least for the next decade.

"It's truly an expensive exercise, hopefully this has breathed life into the pitch for another 10-12 years, if properly maintained, before you need to replace the desso fibres," he concluded.