Just a few dozen metres apart, the pitches at the Parc des Princes and Stade Jean-Bouin experienced completely different summers. While PSG were forced to replace their entire playing surface after extreme heat and the appearance of a fungus, the pitch used by Paris FC held up much better thanks to an innovative irrigation technology. The contrast is particularly striking because the two stadiums, separated by only a small street, were exposed to virtually the same weather conditions.
According to L’Équipe, the explanation lies in the AquaFlow technology used at Jean-Bouin since the summer of 2025 and developed by French company Natural Grass. Unlike traditional irrigation, the system stores water underneath the pitch and delivers it directly to the roots through sub-irrigation. This keeps the surface drier while encouraging deeper root growth.
Jean-Bouin better equipped to withstand extreme heat
The system provides a major advantage during heatwaves while also helping to limit diseases and fungi encouraged by excessive surface moisture. It can also significantly reduce water consumption. Natural Grass claims savings of between 50% and 100% depending on the installation and conditions, while TF1 reported in January that Jean-Bouin had cut its water use by around 90% since the technology was introduced. Traditional watering is still used before matches to improve playing comfort.
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The comparison with the Parc des Princes is therefore particularly striking. PSG’s pitch was badly damaged by this summer’s heat and affected by a fungus, deteriorating to the point where the LFP considered that it could no longer guarantee player safety. This led to the reversal of the PSG-Rennes fixture on the opening weekend of Ligue 1. Paris ultimately opted for the most radical solution: replacing the entire pitch, with rolls of turf brought in from England and installed this week.
PSG hope to have a perfectly playable surface for the home match against AS Monaco on September 4. It is an unusual operation for Jonathan Calderwood’s groundskeeping team, which usually grows the grass directly at the Parc des Princes. More broadly, the episode highlights the new challenges facing professional clubs as longer periods of extreme heat and turf diseases become harder to manage. Technologies such as AquaFlow could therefore attract increasing interest from other French stadiums in the future.
