Football Pitch Turf Take-Off: Run-Off, Rolls and Waste

A 105 × 68 m pitch is 7,140 m² of playing surface, but it is 7,200 m² of turf — 72 rolls of 4 m — and 84 joints. Add the FA’s 3 m run-off and the same pitch becomes 8,214 m², which is 68 rolls of 5 m. The gap between the first two numbers is a tail, not a waste allowance.

That tail is what a football pitch turf order actually turns on. Every course across a 105 m pitch is four full 25 m rolls plus a leftover piece, and the leftover piece decides whether the order reads 72 rolls or 75. We cut rolls at 2, 4 and 5 m wide by 25 m long. Every figure on this page can therefore be re-run against a real roll and a real drawing.

7,140 Square Metres, 72 Rolls and 84 Seams

Those four numbers measure different things. 7,140 m² is the playing surface inside the lines, with the 12 cm line width already inside the figure. 7,200 m² is the same rectangle as football pitch turf on 4 m rolls: 17 strips, each four full rolls plus a 5 m tail. The nesting leaves only 60 m² over.

• Playing surface: 105 × 68 m = 7,140 m², lines included in the measurement.
• Turf on 4 m rolls: 17 strips, 72 rolls, 7,200 m² ordered, 60 m² over the playing area.
• Joints: 84 in total — 68 transverse cuts and 16 longitudinal seams.
• With the FA’s 3 m run-off: 111 × 74 m = 8,214 m², which is 68 rolls of 5 m.

Choose the Rectangle Before You Count Rolls

Nothing in this chain works until the rectangle is fixed, because every later number multiplies it. Law 1 of the Laws of the Game sets the range: 90–120 m by 45–90 m for general play, and 100–110 m by 64–75 m for international matches. The competition fixes the value inside the range, and 105 × 68 m is a recommendation, not a mandate. Every football pitch turf count inherits that choice.

The English 3G recommendation is a different rectangle: 100 × 64 m, or 6,400 m². Add a 3 m run-off on all four sides and it becomes 106 × 70 m and 7,420 m². The pitch dimensions behind each tier — line widths, penalty areas, age-grade sizes — sit in the dimensions guide, so this take-off takes the rectangle as an input and stops.

Five-a-side and futsal frames follow their own sizing rules; the same tail-counting logic on a 5-a-side pitch is worked through separately. The rest of this take-off stays with eleven-a-side rectangles.

Which Rectangle the Competition Fixes

Law 1 measures from the outside of the lines, and the lines belong to the area they enclose, so a stated size already contains its own markings. Nothing is added for paint before the count starts.

Why 100 Metres and 105 Metres Behave Differently

100 m divides by 25 exactly, and 105 m does not — the whole tail argument starts at that 5 m. On 4 m rolls, 100 × 64 m takes 16 strips of four whole rolls each: 64 rolls and 6,400 m², the only zero-waste footprint in this take-off. Every other recommended frame leaves a tail, and the tail is where the rest of this page goes.

Four Run-Off Bands, Four Paving Areas

Run-off is football pitch turf, not spare ground: the same carpet continues past every line. FIFA’s pitch and surrounding-area guidance sets the benchmark at 2 m of level surface beyond every touchline and goal line, ideally in the same surface as the pitch. On a 105 × 68 m frame that benchmark alone turns 7,140 m² into 109 × 72 m, or 7,848 m², an extra 708 m².

Higher tiers add more. The FA guide to 3G pitch layouts requires 3 m run-offs on all sides of the main pitch, free of any obstacle. FIFA’s larger stages go further: 5 m behind each goal line and 4 m beyond each touchline. Smaller stadiums take 4 m behind the goals and 3 m at the sides.

• Playing area only — 105 × 68 m: 7,140 m², the base every band adds to.
• FIFA benchmark, 2 m beyond every line — 109 × 72 m: 7,848 m², +708 m².
• FIFA small stadium, 4 m behind the goals and 3 m at the sides — 113 × 74 m: 8,362 m², +1,222 m².
• English 3G, 3 m on all sides — 111 × 74 m: 8,214 m², +1,074 m². The FA’s run-off guidance sets 1.83 m as the pyramid-league minimum, 2 m ideally and 3 m for a new ground. It adds the clause that decides quality: 3G used as a run-off must meet the performance standards of a full-size pitch and be green.
• FIFA large stadium, 5 m behind the goals and 4 m at the sides — 115 × 76 m: 8,740 m², +1,600 m².

The ladder reads 7,140, 7,848, 8,214, 8,362 and 8,740 m². Each band belongs to a level — FIFA benchmark, English 3G, FIFA small stadium, FIFA large stadium — not to a preference. The quality clause is why the run-off cannot be a cheaper carpet. The surface outside the lines answers to the same standard, so 7,140 m² becomes 8,214 m² of one product. No single value is recommended worldwide; the tier a project answers to sets the frame.

A 25 Metre Roll Cannot Run 105 Metres

A 25 m roll cannot run a 105 m touchline, so every course is four full rolls plus a tail. The tail is 5 m on a 105 m pitch, 9 m on 109, 11 m on 111, 13 m on 113 and 15 m on 115. Four transverse cuts per course is arithmetic, not a preference: 109 ÷ 25 = 4.36, so five pieces. Some take-offs assume one continuous 109 m strip, which no 25 m roll can deliver.

Four Rolls Plus a Tail, Every Course

The full sequence across the recommended frames is 0, 5, 6, 9, 11, 13 and 15 m — zero only where the length divides by 25. The FA’s outer rectangle at 106 m carries a 6 m tail. Every one of those tails is a real cut with a real joint, so a 105 m course shows four transverse seams no matter which width runs across the pitch.

The One Length That Fits Exactly

100 m is the only recommended length that divides by 25. That is why 100 × 64 m on 4 m rolls is 64 rolls and 6,400 m² with nothing left over. It is 16 strips of four whole rolls each, with no tail pieces to buy. Every other frame here leaves a tail, and the tail decides the order.

The same segmentation runs through how a running track infield take-off is built, where 25 m roll lengths meet a curved, multi-lane geometry. A football frame is the simple case: one laying direction, one tail length, one nesting decision.

Strip Count, Trim and Seam Metres by Width

Roll width decides how many strips run across the pitch, and the strip count decides everything downstream: rolls, trim, seams and seam metres. On the 105 × 68 m rectangle the three standard widths give three different orders, and all three are correct. Strips run across the pitch, so trim lives in the width direction and tails live in the length direction.

Roll width	Strips	Rolls	Order area	Leftover	Seams	Seam length
5 m	14	59	7,375 m²	+235 m²	69	1,645 m
4 m	17	72	7,200 m²	+60 m²	84	1,952 m
2 m	34	143	7,150 m²	+10 m²	169	3,737 m

Read the roll column against the frame, not against habit. On this rectangle 5 m rolls take 59 rolls and 4 m rolls take 72, and both figures are right. The 68 belongs to a different frame — 111 × 74 m with run-off — and has no business on a 105 × 68 count.

The 5 m row wins on work and loses on material. Fourteen strips lay 70 m across a 68 m pitch, so 2 m of width is trimmed off every course. The least-work option therefore buys 175 m² more turf than the 4 m row. Against 4 m rolls it saves 13 rolls, 15 seams and 307 m of seam length.

The 2 m row is the mirror image. It leaves almost nothing over, 10 m² across 34 strips, but carries 169 seams totalling 3,737 m — 2.27 times the seam length of the 5 m row. Narrow rolls earn their keep on small or irregular areas, not on a full-size frame.

Where the Leftover Comes From

Divisibility settles the leftover before nesting even starts. On a 68 m wide pitch 4 m rolls tile exactly; on a 74 m wide pitch they do not. 74 ÷ 4 = 18.5, which rounds up to 19 strips and 2 m of trim. Four-metre rolls divide 64, 68, 72 and 76 m cleanly; 5 m rolls divide none of the common widths.

Compare the same roll-width trade-off on a netball court, where widths are smaller but the arithmetic is identical: labour saved is turf spent, and turf saved is labour spent.

Tail Nesting Decides the Roll Count

A roll count is not tail length divided by 25. It runs in four steps. First, the tail is the pitch length minus 100 m. Second, one roll yields as many tail pieces as 25 divided by the tail, rounded down.

Third, tail rolls are the strip count divided by that yield, rounded up. Fourth, the total is four whole rolls per strip plus the tail rolls. At a 5 m tail the yield is 5, at 9 m and 11 m it is 2, and at 13 m and 15 m it is 1. That single integer is the whole difference between orders.

Never divide tail length by 25; divide 25 by tail length. Read the wrong way, an 11 m tail looks like a fraction of one roll. Read the right way, each roll carries two 11 m pieces, and the strip count says how many rolls the tails need.

Five-tier counts stay in step across widths. On 5 m rolls the five frames take 59, 68, 68, 75 and 80 rolls; on 4 m rolls, 72, 81, 86, 95 and 95. On 2 m rolls the same five frames take 143, 162, 167, 185 and 190. The only perfect fit in the set is 100 × 64 m on 4 m rolls: 64 rolls, zero leftover.

A football pitch turf order is a stack of strips first and an area second. The area follows from the roll count, never the other way round.

Four Joints Land on a 105 Metre Pitch

Start at a goal line and the four transverse joints sit at 25, 50, 75 and 100 m. No published rule fixes seam positions; the 25 m grid does. The same geometry-first counting runs through how a cricket outfield roll count is built, where the boundary rope replaces the goal line.

Twenty-Five, Fifty, Seventy-Five, One Hundred

The 50 m joint crosses the centre circle, which spans 43.35 to 61.65 m along a 105 m pitch. The 100 m joint sits inside the far penalty area, 5 m from the goal line and 0.5 m inside the goal area line. That is not a laying mistake; it is where the grid lands.

All four joints cannot miss the 16.5 m end zones. The free run between the two penalty areas is 105 − 2 × 16.5 = 72 m, while the four joints span 3 × 25 = 75 m. At least one joint lands inside an end zone on every 105 m layout, and no starting point changes that.

Can You Move Them?

What the documents allow is convention, not a rule. Transverse joints are staggered away from in-pitch lines, so an inlaid marking does not need a second cut. Longitudinal joints stay out of the high-wear band straight in front of each goal. The pile runs one direction across the whole field, so the seams stay invisible in raking light.

Longer frames can clear the end zones. Starting 17 m in on a 109 m or 111 m pitch puts the joints at 17, 42, 67 and 92 m, clear of the penalty areas and the circle. The price is material. Each course splits into 25, 25, 25, 17 and 17 m pieces, and the two 17 m pieces each take a whole roll. The order climbs from 81 rolls to 90, and the purchase from 8,100 to 9,000 m².

Waste Is What Is Left After Nesting

Waste is what is left after nesting, and it arrives as three leftovers rather than one percentage. No official waste rate exists for football pitch turf. Every percentage below is derived from the 25 m roll layouts here, and each one can be recomputed from a strip count.

• Length allowance: a 105 m course reads 19.05% before nesting on 25 m rolls, and 0.84% after nesting on 4 m rolls.
• Width trim: 5 m rolls lay 70 m across a 68 m pitch, and the 2 m overhang is trimmed. Four-metre rolls trim nothing at 68, 72 or 76 m.
• Tail remainder: a roll carrying 11 m tails uses 22 m and keeps 3 m; a roll carrying 13 m tails keeps 12 m.

Across every footprint and width in this take-off, the leftover runs from 0% to 14.42%. Three points mark the range. 0.84% sits on 105 × 68 with 4 m rolls. 3.48% falls on 111 × 74 with 5 m rolls, and 12.11% on 113 × 74 with the same width. The spread comes from tail nesting, not from site conditions.

Once the nesting is done, the allowance is already inside the roll count. Adding a percentage on top double-counts it. Compute the strips and the tails first, then decide whether any margin is needed at all.

What Else Rides on the Take-Off Sheet

Area and roll count are half of a football pitch turf take-off. Six more inputs decide whether the count comes back right the first time, because each one moves either the frame or the cut.

• Run-off band — naming 2, 3, 4+3 or 5+4 m, because the choice moves 708 to 1,600 m².
• Laying direction and strip count — the roll table only closes once both are fixed.
• Roll width and roll length — the one spec item a take-off cannot invent; the football turf systems page separates standard widths from cut-to-order lengths.
• Tail handling — loose pieces cut at 25 m, or tails already nested into whole rolls.
• Perimeter build-up — a 300 mm mowing strip outside every 3G surface decides where the turf ends. Folding goals add 300 mm on all sides, which turns 111 × 74 m into 111.6 × 74.6 m and 8,325.36 m², 111.36 m² more.
• Line colour split — other colours are permitted on artificial surfaces, and inlaid lines are cut from the same turf, so the split is fixed before the layout freezes.

Leave any of the six open and suppliers fill the gap with their own assumptions, which is how three quotes arrive with three different roll counts for one drawing.

Eight Lines That Make a Take-Off Usable

Eight lines make a take-off usable, and every one of them traces back to a number above. A supplier who receives all eight returns a roll count and a layout drawing, not a bare square-metre figure. The sheet, not the calculator, is the deliverable.

1. Pitch outline, naming 100 × 64 m or 105 × 68 m.
2. Chosen run-off band, with its width on all four sides.
3. Finished paving outline the layout has to fill.
4. Strip count and laying direction.
5. Roll width and roll length, and whether a custom length is acceptable.
6. Tails: loose pieces or nested.
7. Perimeter: mowing strip, folding-goal allowance, drain positions.
8. Line colour split and delivery port.

Send the eight lines and the answer comes back as strips, segments and tails. Send a bare square-metre figure and the answer comes back as someone else’s assumptions rolled into a number.

Frequently Asked Questions