France’s next-gen synthetic pitches spark battle before 2031 rubber infill ban | OneFootball

According to L'Équipe, the EU’s 2031 ban on microbeads from recycled tyres has triggered a race among French artificial-turf makers, with the first fifth-generation "Happy Future" no-infill pitch in Saint-Léger-de-Linières.

Opened on 30 August last year, the surface drew 650,000 views. Mayor Franck Poquin travelled to the Netherlands to quiz engineers on friction, grip and injury risk.

Infill adds stability, yet EU rules in 2023 will outlaw SBR rubber from 2031 to curb microplastic pollution. Eurofield chief executive Gilles Thillaye says the firm has shifted to cork, maize, olive or wood, and to sand, delivering 125 pitches this year without rubber.

Research on a no-infill design began in 2017, using far denser fibres, about 4.5 kg per square metre instead of one kg. "Happy Future" has been installed 26 times this year, including at Marseille’s Robert-Louis-Dreyfus centre. Art Dan says it was developed with TenCate Grass after six years of testing with PSV Eindhoven.

Tarkett Sports remains unconvinced, warning such systems could create weak points and wear faster. It points to cork or maize infills, including two at Clairefontaine in 2024 and one in 2025, and to Lille’s Luchin centre. Thillaye counters that FIFA approval requires 20,000 cycles and says Eurofield ran 1,000,000 without change.

France has 3,500 synthetic pitches out of 40,000, with 250 built in 2025, most as renewals. Other infills have proved mixed, with crushed olive pits deemed too hard and cherry or apricot stones too abrasive. With SBR fading, the contest is which alternative prevails.

Source: L'Équipe