League Championship Side Derby County Installs England's Most Advanced Pitch

League Championship side Derby County "will go into the new season boasting the most technologically advanced pitch in English football," according to Spencer Morgan of the London DAILY MAIL. The team will kick off its Championship campaign at the iPro Stadium against Brighton on Saturday. And the fixture will be the first in the U.K. to be played on the SISGrass pitch, "the next generation of football playing surface." The laser-guided installation took "just five days to complete and it is now match-ready ahead of the forthcoming football season." The club went ahead with the transformation of both its stadium and training center "after seeing the benefits at St. George's Park, the facilities of the England team." Derby is not alone "as the new technology is currently being installed at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow," the host stadium for the 2018 World Cup Final, with work due to be completed in October (DAILY MAIL, 8/3).