PSG/Monaco – Parc des Princes has a new pitch, from Ireland

In partnership with

Parisfans.fr

·3 September 2026

PSG/Monaco – Parc des Princes has a new pitch, from Ireland

After the mishap on the opening matchday for the home game against Rennes, which ended up being moved to Roazhon Park, Paris Saint-Germain will be ready to host Monaco this Friday on Matchday 3 of Ligue 1. The Parc des Princes does in fact have its new pitch, with a change of method on the PSG side. That is what was explained by Ici Paris.

A change far from random.

“Since the arrival of the club’s head groundsman, Jonathan Calderwood, in 2011, PSG had made a habit of growing its pitch through summer seeding. But for the past two seasons, those seeds have been hit hard by the heat, putting PSG in difficulty in August for its first matches. After the switch of the match against Rennes, the club had its damaged pitch stripped, then on August 26 had rolls of turf laid. 700 rolls arrived by truck, which PSG went to collect and buy in Ireland. After that, the club laid the turf, worked on the irrigation, carried out tests with and without balls, and since August 28 the pitch has been under monitoring.”

While the easy thing was to criticize PSG and make fun of its poor pitch despite its resources, it is more interesting to look at the details. Of course, the capital club could have had a better surface sooner. Except it wanted to remain faithful to the method of its ground manager, Jonathan Calderwood, who has long proven that he is among the best.

OneFootball Videos

An especially difficult summer eventually pushed the Northern Irishman and his team to opt for a radical change. Without rushing either. The quality of the pitch is essential, so the choice was a precise one. PSG went all the way to Ireland for its new surface after extensive research. Now, everything should normally be ready. Let’s hope the season will make people forget the false start. Calderwood can be trusted to make that happen.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.