Football Pitch and Tennis Court Lighting: Typical Mast Layouts

Lighting for sports facilities

POLYGONAL designs and makes poles and floodlight masts for stadiums, tennis courts, and football, basketball and other sports fields. We have long experience in designing masts for sports lighting.

Stadiums are professional and semi-professional grounds for football, basketball, volleyball and similar games. They can be very different: from ordinary school and yard pitches to large sports complexes that host the Olympics and world championships.

Good lighting is one of the most important parts of any sports facility. Sports lighting cannot be standard, as street or park lighting can: designs for large stadiums are strictly individual because, besides the power and number of floodlights, one must take into account the architecture of the building, the positions of the luminaires and the ways the lighting systems can be installed.

With correct lighting, athletes feel no discomfort and perform better, and spectators see everything that happens on the arena down to the smallest detail.

Ways of lighting stadiums and sports fields

Lighting with floodlight masts

The most common and most economical option. Floodlight masts with powerful floodlights stand at the corners of the field. The height of a mast depends on the lighting quality required: the higher the mast, the better the light. The number of masts can vary with the task and the class of the field, and the number of floodlights on them is changed to the customer’s requirements.

This type of lighting suits stadiums of regional and local importance and most sports fields.

Linear lighting system

The floodlights are placed along the pitch, beside the touchlines, rather than at the corners. The lighting comes out more uniform and glare is much lower, but the cost of design and installation goes up. We provide such layouts too, on floodlight masts set along the pitch.

Typical football pitch lighting layouts

The lighting requirements for a football pitch depend on the level of play and are set by national and international standards. Below are typical layouts: the lighting equipment needed for a given illuminance. For the standards’ requirements and mast positions, see the article “Sports Stadium Lighting Guide”.

180 lx: six 15 m masts

• Floodlight masts: 6 pcs, 15 m high.
• Floodlights: 14 pcs, rated power 2 kW.

200 lx: six or eight 15 m masts

• Floodlight masts: 6 or 8 pcs, 15 m high.
• Floodlights: 16 pcs, rated power 2 kW.

350 lx: four 20 m masts

• Floodlight masts: 4 pcs, 20 m high.
• Floodlights: 28 pcs, rated power 2 kW.

500 lx: four 30 m masts

• Floodlight masts: 4 pcs, 30 m high.
• Floodlights: 40 pcs, rated power 2 kW.

Typical tennis court lighting layouts

Tennis has always been associated with sunny days, but in a hot summer the best time to play is after sunset. Whatever the size of the club, good lighting can be provided following the recommendations of the governing bodies.

The European standard EN 12193 sets a minimum illuminance for each class: 500, 300 and 200 lx for classes I, II and III respectively. Some national associations recommend other levels. Choose one of the standard layouts or ask us to design your own.

200 lx: 8 m masts, 4 floodlights of 1 kW

300 lx: 8 m masts, 8 floodlights of 1 kW

500 lx: 8 m masts, 8 floodlights of 1.5 kW

500 lx: 10 m masts, 8 floodlights of 2 kW

500 lx: 12 m masts, 12 floodlights of 2 kW

Mast height and number of masts

The mast height is derived from 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°. The formula is Hm = d × tan α, where Hm is the height of the lowest row of floodlights and d is the distance from the centre of the pitch to the mast (for masts along the touchline, from the longitudinal axis of the pitch). The top of the mast is higher than Hm by the height of the crown. For a football pitch, masts below 15 m are not recommended: they increase visual discomfort.

For example, for a 105×68 m pitch, a mast beside the touchline, 8 m from it (so d = 42 m), gives Hm ≈ 19.6 m, which points to a PMV-24; a corner mast 70 m from the centre gives Hm ≈ 32.6 m, which is already a PMV-34. This is only a rough estimate: the final height is confirmed by the lighting calculation.

Design and manufacture; installation by a partner

For open sports facilities we make a free pre-design calculation of the floodlight mast to the customer’s brief. We design, make and supply the masts. The lighting calculation and the choice of floodlights are free too, and we supply the floodlights themselves. A licensed construction partner company erects the masts across the whole country.

The structures are protected by hot-dip galvanising to DSTU EN ISO 1461:2024. The masts are made on modern equipment for polygonal poles; each comes with a passport, operating instructions and accompanying documentation.