Turfgrass Production and Management on Football Playing Surfaces: A Bibliometric Analysis of Performance and Sustainability Research
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24925/turjaf.v14i6.1584-1602.8653Keywords:
turfgrass production, sports playing surfaces, surface performance, sustainability, turfgrass managementAbstract
This study examines the scientific literature on turfgrass production and management for football playing surfaces through a bibliometric analysis, with a particular focus on performance and sustainability dimensions. Within the scope of the research, 85 publications indexed in the Web of Science and 526 publications indexed in Scopus, published between 2000 and 2025, were analyzed. The datasets were evaluated separately without merging the databases. Bibliometric techniques including co-authorship analysis at the author and country levels, keyword co-occurrence analysis, and bibliographic coupling at the source level were applied to map research structures and trends. The findings indicate that turfgrass-related research on football playing surfaces primarily concentrates on performance-oriented themes such as species selection, surface hardness, traction characteristics, wear tolerance, and playing quality. Sustainability-oriented studies mainly address issues related to water management, optimization of maintenance inputs, and environmental constraints. The results further reveal that scientific production and collaboration networks are concentrated around a limited number of core countries, while recent years show a growing interdisciplinary research trend integrating environmental sustainability, athlete safety, and cost efficiency. Overall, this study provides a systematic overview of global research trends in turfgrass production and management for football playing surfaces, contributing to both the academic literature and decision-making processes related to performance- and sustainability-oriented management of sports facilities. The study further highlights that playing-surface quality is not only a technical maintenance outcome but also a strategic element linked to stadium service quality, fan experience, and clubs’ sustainability communication/brand value, thereby offering marketing-relevant implications for key stakeholders.
References
Aria, M., & Cuccurullo, C. (2017). bibliometrix: An R-tool for comprehensive science mapping analysis. Journal of Informetrics, 11(4), 959–975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2017.08.007
Baker, M. J., & Gruber, T. (2020). Sustainability marketing and branding: An introduction. Journal of Brand Management, 27, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41262-020-00205-3
Beard, J. B. (2002). Turf management for golf courses (2nd ed.). Ann Arbor Press.
Beard, J. B., & Green, R. L. (1994). The role of turfgrasses in environmental protection and their benefits to humans. Journal of Environmental Quality, 23(3), 452–460. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq1994.00472425002300030007x
Bonos, S. A., & Huff, D. R. (2013). Breeding cool-season turfgrasses for wear tolerance and stress resistance. Crop Science, 53(6), 303–312. https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2012.11.0656
Brosnan, J. T., Breeden, G. K., Patton, A. J., & Vargas, J. M. (2022). The future of turfgrass weed management. Weed Science, 70(1), 3–14. https://doi.org/10.1017/wsc.2021.68
Callon, M., Courtial, J.-P., Turner, W. A., & Bauin, S. (1983). From translations to problematic networks: An introduction to co-word analysis. Social Science Information, 22(2), 191–235.
Carrow, R. N., Waddington, D. V., & Rieke, P. E. (2001). Turfgrass soil fertility and chemical problems: Assessment and management. John Wiley & Sons.
Christians, N. E., Patton, A. J., & Law, Q. D. (2017). Fundamentals of turfgrass management (5th ed.). John Wiley & Sons.
Donthu, N., Kumar, S., Mukherjee, D., Pandey, N., & Lim, W. M. (2021). How to conduct a bibliometric analysis: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 133, 285–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.04.070
Falagas, M. E., Pitsouni, E. I., Malietzis, G. A., & Pappas, G. (2008). Comparison of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar: Strengths and weaknesses. The FASEB Journal, 22(2), 338–342. https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.07-9492LSF
FIFA. (n.d.). FIFA Quality Programme for Football Turf: Handbook of requirements. Retrieved December 14, 2025, from https://inside.fifa.com/technical/standards/football-turf
García, A., & Welford, J. (2019). Sustainability in elite football: Social and environmental responsibility in practice. Soccer & Society, 20(3), 399–414. https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2017.1322238
Huang, B. (2001). Water relations and drought tolerance of turfgrasses. In M. Agnew (Ed.), Turfgrass biology, genetics, and breeding (pp. 317–333). John Wiley & Sons.
Huff, D. R., & Bonos, S. A. (2019). The genetics and breeding of turfgrass. In J. Stier, B. Horgan, & S. Bonos (Eds.), Turfgrass: Biology, use, and management (pp. 479–526). American Society of Agronomy.
Jeffrey, J., Fleming, P., Young, M., & Orchard, J. (2020). Measuring football pitch hardness, traction and consistency: Advances in playing surface testing. Sports Engineering, 23, Article 12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12283-020-00332-7
Kessler, M. M. (1963). Bibliographic coupling between scientific papers. American Documentation, 14(1), 10–25. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.5090140103
Kotler, P. (2011). Reinventing marketing to manage the environmental imperative. Journal of Marketing, 75(4), 132–135. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.75.4.132
Kuitunen, I., Immonen, V., Pakarinen, O., Mattila, V. M., & Ponkilainen, V. T. (2023). Incidence of football injuries sustained on artificial turf compared to grass and other playing surfaces: A systematic review and meta-analysis. EClinicalMedicine, 59, 101956. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.101956
Leinauer, B., & Serena, M. (2010). Irrigation strategies for efficient turfgrass water use. In P. R. Brown, J. K. Rice, & B. Leinauer (Eds.), Turfgrass management in arid and semi-arid environments (pp. 97–129). CRC Press.
McLeod, R. (2021). The global turfgrass market: Trends, innovations and economic drivers. International Turfgrass Society Research Journal, 14(1), 112–129. https://doi.org/10.2134/itsrj2021.14.1.10
McNitt, A. S., & Landschoot, P. J. (2005). The effect of turfgrass surface conditions on player–surface interaction and injury risk. Sports Turf, 31(3), 10–14.
Naraine, M. L., & Parent, M. M. (2020). Digital marketing and sustainability in professional sport. International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, 21(4), 585–600. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSMS-04-2019-0040
Newman, M. E. J. (2001). The structure of scientific collaboration networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98(2), 404–409. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.98.2.404
Qian, Y., & Fry, J. D. (2005). Water relations and drought tolerance of four turfgrass species. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 53(2), 159–165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envexpbot.2004.03.012
Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., … Moher, D. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ, 372, n71. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n71
Paul, J., Lim, W. M., O’Cass, A., Hao, A. W., & Bresciani, S. (2021). Scientific procedures and rationales for systematic literature reviews (SPAR-4-SLR). International Journal of Consumer Studies, 45(4), O1–O16. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12695
Rossi, F. S. (2013). Turfgrass management strategies for high-performance sports surfaces. Agronomy Journal, 105(5), 1351–1360. https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj2013.0032
Sharma, N., Sharma, A., Dutta, N., & Priya, P. (2023). Showrooming: a retrospective and prospective review using the SPAR-4-SLR methodological framework. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 51(11), 1588–1613. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRDM-12-2022-0513
Stewart, P. D., Fleming, P., & Forrester, S. E. (2018). Performance characteristics of hybrid turfgrass systems for professional football. Sports Engineering, 21(3), 191–200. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12283-018-0272-2
van den Brink, P. J., & van der Zee, S. E. (2019). Agricultural intensification, turfgrass production and environmental impacts. Agricultural Systems, 176, 102654.
van Eck, N. J., & Waltman, L. (2010). Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics, 84(2), 523–538. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-009-0146-3
Zupic, I., & Čater, T. (2015). Bibliometric methods in management and organization. Organizational Research Methods, 18(3), 429–472. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428114562629
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
