Kolkata : The world’s second largest stadium by capacity has earned FIFA 2-Star recommended status and simultaneously becomes the only field in India to be FIFA Recommended.

The FIFA Recommended 2-Star designation is the highest synthetic turf rating from FIFA and is issued after a battery of tests are performed by a FIFA approved testing agent. FIFA final round competitions and top UEFA competitions have the FIFA Recommended 2-Star in their respective competition regulations.

Mr. Kanti Ganguly, Sports Minister, Government of West Bengal, said, “It is a matter of great satisfaction that the SAARC region’s first FIFA recommended artificial turf football field is in Kolkata.”

Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, India initially chose FieldTurf for its soccer field in 2009. The world’s top high profile venues continue to side with the synthetic turf innovation and performance that has become synonymous with FieldTurf.

“This is the only FIFA Recommended field in India and it is only fitting that this prestigious designation belongs to Yuba Bharati Krirangan (Salt Lake Stadium)”, says Anil Kumar, Director of FieldTurf Tarkett India.

Thar Marbles, the FieldTurf Distributor for West Bengal and Assam said, “We are delighted yet not surprised that the Salt Lake Stadium field passed FIFA’s most stringent testing protocol. Players at all levels prefer FieldTurf because of the system’s safety and playability characteristics that revolutionized the sports surfacing industry”.

“FieldTurf executed the project in the most professional manner. Highest quality, timely completion and within the budget”, said Mr. Dhar, Managing Director of Mackintosh Burn Ltd., which undertook the overall stadium renovation project.

Salt Lake Stadium hosts the home games of local clubs Mohun Bagan AC, East Bengal FC, and Mohammedan SC – three of the big clubs in Indian football. Many of the home games of the India national football team are also played at Salt Lake, in addition to many important games in major stages of national tournaments.

In addition to the last two 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 League (USL) championship games, among many others.

Over 75% of all teams in the English Premier League, Spain’s ‘La Liga’, and France’s ‘Ligue de Football Professionnel’, train on FieldTurf and synthetic turf systems from the world leader in artificial turf.