The European Commission has sent formal allegations to several companies in the synthetic turf industry over suspected collusion affecting sports pitch turf markets in the Netherlands and Germany.
The Commission said in a release on Thursday that it has a preliminary view that the companies breached EU antitrust rules by coordinating behaviour in ways that distorted competition in synthetic turf for sports pitches in the two countries.
The documents sent are known as Statements of Objections — a formal step in EU competition investigations that sets out the Commission’s concerns and gives companies the chance to respond — and do not predetermine the final outcome.
In the Netherlands case, the Commission said Oranjewoud, TenCate Grass and Sports & Leisure Group, which produce and install synthetic turf, coordinated their commercial conduct from 2019 after setting up a recycling company in the Netherlands called GBN-AGR, renamed AGR in December 2024.
The Commission said it is concerned the companies agreed not to compete with GBN-AGR in recycling, to use its recycling services exclusively, and to set its pricing in a way that reduced competition between them while disadvantaging third parties.
It also suspects the companies made a further agreement a year later to marginalise providers of sustainable disposal services competing with GBN-AGR’s recycling services.
The Statement of Objections in the Netherlands case is also addressed to Domo Sports Grass Nederland, which was spun off from Sports & Leisure Group into a standalone installation business in May 2025.
Allegations in Germany focus on recycling ‘gate fee’
In the Germany case, the Commission said it has preliminary concerns that Oranjewoud and Germany-based Sport Group colluded between 2020 and 2023 on the recycling of synthetic turf for sports.
While discussing potential cooperation in Germany, the Commission said the two companies exchanged confidential strategic information including current and future prices and production capacities without safeguards limiting the exchange to what was necessary for the talks.
The Commission also declared it is concerned the companies later fixed the main price element for recycling end-of-life synthetic turf in Germany, known in the industry as a “gate fee”.
Synthetic turf pitches are commonly used for football and hockey, with customers including municipalities and other public bodies that typically buy installation or replacement services through tenders.
In replacement tenders, installers usually remove and dispose of the old turf as well as lay the new surface, and the disposal cost is an important element of competition.
The Commission carried out unannounced inspections at companies in the synthetic turf industry in several EU member states in June 2023.
If it ultimately finds an infringement after the companies have exercised their rights of defence, the Commission can impose fines of up to 10% of a company’s annual worldwide turnover.
