At its meeting on October 8, 2024, the sports committee unanimously decided to convert the clay pitches on Breslauer Straße and Sonnenscheinstraße into artificial turf pitches over the next two years. The conversion is only possible if the costs for the new artificial turf pitches are included in the City of Aachen's budget plans for 2025 and 2026.

As part of the new municipal sports development plan, the administration has worked closely with sports clubs, politicians and other local stakeholders to develop new criteria for awarding the conversion of sports pitches. These were approved by the sports committee on June 18. With their decision, the politicians moved away from a purely club-oriented approach. Instead, a social space-oriented approach was chosen. In addition to sports clubs, it also focuses on schools, youth facilities and other institutions. The aims are to strengthen the entire neighborhood, improve utilization of the pitches and give smaller clubs access to modern sports facilities.

The decisive award criteria include a quantitative assessment of the social structure of the neighborhood - such as the population, purchasing power and social benefit rate - as well as proximity to existing artificial turf pitches. The applicant groups must also submit a comprehensive concept. This should outline the needs of the applicant clubs as well as the nearby schools and social facilities. The development of structures, such as a youth concept, was also part of the list of requirements.

The sports department received a total of six applications from different areas of the city. Two applications ultimately prevailed in the selection process.

On the one hand, it is an exciting alliance of the clubs ASV Schwarz-Rot Aachen, SC DITIB (both soccer) and AFC Aachen Vampires (football, flag football, cheerleading) in the Aachen-Ost/Nord district, which is campaigning for the conversion of the football pitch on Breslauer Straße. This pitch is due to be converted in 2025.

On the other hand, the application of the VfR Aachen-Forst 1919 e.V. club for the pitch on Sonnenscheinstraße was considered for conversion in 2026. Both applications were supported by surrounding schools and social institutions.

These two projects will not only sustainably modernize the sports infrastructure, but also make a significant contribution to strengthening the neighborhoods. In future, the artificial turf pitches will not only offer clubs, but also schools and social facilities high-quality surfaces on which they can be active in sports. Synergies can also be created in terms of integrated urban development.