In the second half of 2020, the factory of the Ukrainian Football Association for artificial turf production changed its location — it moved from Kyiv to Kramatorsk.

This decision was made due to a sharp increase in rent for the premises where the production was located and other logistical issues. A dirty information campaign also played a role around the production facility.

Photo by UAF

We remind you that the factory was built at the expense of the Ukrainian Football Association without budget funding and UEFA-specific funds. Professional equipment of world-class quality and production technology from German company Polytan were purchased for producing modern artificial turf for football fields and sports courts.

Photo by UAF

Recently, the UAF has received inquiries from media outlets about the state of affairs at the factory in Kramatorsk. Therefore, we asked Yuriy Bondar, who is now the director of the factory, to tell us about the situation on the production line.

Production of Rubber Crumb

"The rubber crumb and multi-sport court tile production line successfully completed a test run. The first batch of products was produced. We liked everything, — says Yuriy Hryhorovych. — However, since June this year, we are still waiting for the document called 'Environmental Impact Assessment.' Without it, starting industrial production is prohibited, and obtaining this document is, unfortunately, a lengthy process." According to him, due to the relocation of the factory, a number of permit documents need to be obtained from scratch.

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"The matter is that several regulatory and permitting bodies in Kyiv and Kramatorsk are involved. And despite the fact that such a document existed for this production during its operation under Kyiv, now everything needs to be done from scratch. Nevertheless, we are not wasting time, transporting raw materials to the production — there are many enterprises in Donetsk region and neighboring regions where tires are stored in large quantities. We expect the completion of the Environmental Impact Assessment procedure literally soon, and this line will immediately operate at full capacity."

Photo by UAF

Production of Artificial Grass

"As for the artificial grass production line, the situation is somewhat more complicated," continued Yuriy Bondar. "Work on commissioning this line continues. The matter is that the machines comprising this line have no analogues in Ukraine. Without exaggeration — they are unique. And therefore, we are calling foreign experts to fully launch the artificial grass production line."

Photo by UAF

More precisely, we have launched part of the equipment that produces artificial grass directly and produced a test quantity of products. However, for launching the part of the equipment that glues the base to the artificial grass, we turned directly to the equipment manufacturers.

It turned out that these foreign experts have a very tight schedule — they are commissioning equipment all over the world and agree on their visits practically half a year in advance. We are currently actively communicating with them, consulting both about the equipment and about the volume of their work in Ukraine. We also conduct training for our staff to operate such high-tech equipment. Our experts eagerly await the start of full-cycle production."