Hannam achieves FIFA certification

Hannam University announced that its newly developed soccer field with artificial turf is certified for 2 STAR by FIFA. It is the first among Koreans universities. The FIFA headquarters, located in Zürich, Switzerland, recently delivered an authentication certificate to Hannam and also made an announcement on their web page.

In Korea, Hannam's artificial turf soccer field is the second one that received FIFA 2 STAR (HyoChang Stadium in Seoul was certified first.) No other university in Korea has been certified. Only 20 soccer fields have received 2 STAR certificates all over Asia.

The FIFA certification for soccer fields with artificial turf is divided into two kinds; 1 STAR and 2 STAR. The preliminary game is played in 1 STAR soccer field, and the final game is played in 2 STAR one.

In order to issue authorization, FIFA evaluates the type and condition of the field by testing dozens of experiments, such as rolling and bouncing of the soccer ball. Hannam University did construction work at the school stadium during four months (from May to August in 2010), building a soccer field with artificial turf, urethane running track, lamp equipment for a night game, and etc.

1,450,000,000 won of working expenses was invested all through the construction; 350 million won by Korea Sports Promotion Foundation, 200 million won by Daejeon City, and 900 million won by Hannam University. The soccer field was constructed with top technology to lay the finest artificial turf.

HyungTae Kim, the president of Hannam, said, "It is the pride of our local community that Hannam has received the FIFA 2 STAR certificate as the first university in Korea. We will do our best to keep up the maintenance of the field so it can be loved by every soccer player and everyone in this area."

-- Translated from the Hannam University main page by Yeseul Park