Stadium lighting and sports grounds

How a football pitch is lit

Unlike street or park lighting, sports lighting is never an off-the-shelf solution. Besides the power and the number of floodlights, the design takes into account the architecture of the venue, where the masts can stand and how the light is controlled. There are two layouts: masts at the corners of the pitch, or a linear system along the touchlines.

Masts at the corners are the most common and the most economical option. A linear system along the touchlines gives more even light but costs more, and the masts there are not below 15 m. Masts must not stand in a 5 m strip around the pitch. The layouts and permitted places are covered in the article Sports Lighting: Competition Classes and Requirements.

Mast height and number of masts

The mast height is set by the angle α between the horizontal and the line from the centre of the pitch to the lowest row of floodlights: it must be at least 25°. For a football pitch, masts below 15 m are not recommended. The formula and a worked example are in the article Football Pitch and Tennis Court Lighting: Typical Mast Layouts.

We make masts up to 20 m in the PM range (12–20 m) and from 20 m up in the PMV range: 20, 24, 30 and 34 m. On our projects there are masts of 10, 16, 20 and 25 m, and heights outside these ranges are calculated for the specific site. The dimensions and loads of PM masts are in the article PM Floodlight Masts 12–20 m, and an example for a PMV is in 30 m Floodlight Mast.

Competition classes and illuminance requirements

Stadium lighting is divided into five classes, I to V, in two categories: competitions with colour television coverage (IV–V) and competitions and training without it (I–III).

Horizontal illuminance according to the FIFA guide to artificial lighting of football pitches.

A TV camera needs more light than the players do (from a long distance the ball looks very small, so spectators in the far seats need almost as much light as the cameras). That is why televised matches also have a vertical illuminance requirement, in planes perpendicular to the cameras’ lines of sight, and a stricter limit on non-uniformity: between points 5 m apart the illuminance gradient does not exceed 20% (55% without TV).

Uniformity, the glare rating (GR) and the light colour for each class are in the article Sports Lighting: Competition Classes and Requirements. For tennis, the European standard EN 12193 applies.

Lighting a school stadium or a neighbourhood pitch

At a school stadium or a neighbourhood pitch people play for recreation, without TV coverage. For training, the FIFA guide recommends an average of 75 lx, and for lower-league and club games, 200 lx. Uniformity and visual comfort still matter: the light should fall without harsh patches and without glare. Such pitches are usually in residential areas, so spill light should be kept as low as possible to avoid disturbing the residents.

Mast height and illuminance on our pitches

The parameters are taken from the page Completed Projects. The mast heights differ because each one was calculated for its own pitch.

The mast in Dnipro has a ladder, a fixed fall-protection system and folding rest platforms; in Kyiv the equipment is protected by a lightning rod.

Floodlights for stadiums

We select the floodlights on the basis of the lighting calculation and supply them together with the masts. A mast of the PMV range can carry up to 16 floodlights. The maximum windage area of the equipment is 3.2 m²; the calculation assumes a floodlight of up to 0.2 m² and 20 kg. The crown with the floodlights is either fixed or mobile: a mobile one is lowered with a winch, so the floodlights can be serviced at ground level without special equipment (more in the article Floodlight Masts with a Mobile Crown (PMK)).