A Maryport company has completed a hat-trick of successes by supplying the playing surfaces for a major football tournament.

SIS Pitches has installed the pitches for this year’s AFC Asian Cup, the third major football tournament it has supplied in under six months.

It provided pitches at six of the 12 World Cup stadia in Russia last July, including the final at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow before landing a full-service contract for venues being used at the Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates in December.

Now, SIS Pitches has secured work at seven of the eight venues being used at the AFC Asian Cup which is also taking place in the United Arab Emirates. Their work spanned more than 56,000 square metres of grass across all seven stadium venues.

SIS are also maintaining 15 training pitches for the 24-team tournament. The total area of grass being maintained by SIS Pitches at the training grounds spans 134,550 square metres.

The UAE stadiums using their surfaces include the Zayed Sports City and Al Nahyan stadia, in Abu Dhabi, the Maktoum bin Rashid Stadium, in Dubai, and the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain.

A team of 89 staff are working across all sites for the tournament including groundsmen, drivers, mechanics, electricians, irrigation plumbers and supervisors.

The company has offices around the world, including the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.

David Ball, managing director at SIS Pitches, who is based in the company’s Dubai office, said: “We are passionate about sport across all aspects of our business and thrilled at the phenomenal period of growth we have experienced, especially in the last six months.

“We are very proud to have provided our services at venues being used at the World Cup, Club World Cup and now the Asian Cup, three of the most prestigious football competitions in the world, and believe this is an endorsement of the high-quality customer service we provide.

“Our team of experts have worked exceptionally hard to ensure all pitches were ready for the beginning of the tournament, and I’m confident all surfaces will be in excellent condition when it concludes next month.

“This has been a wonderful period of growth for SIS Pitches and we are looking forward to continuing our success into 2019 and beyond.”

Founded in 2001, SIS Pitches employs more than 420 staff worldwide, with its manufacturing headquarters in Maryport and offices in UK, Holland, Ireland, Turkey, Russia, Middle East and Angola.