The first strips of turf will be laid today at the new Wembley Stadium as construction of the pitch reaches its final stages.

The new Wembley is set to be a state-of the art venue offering fans and players an unmatchable experience and the playing surface will be its centre piece.

The high-spec playing surface has been growing off-site at a secret location in England whilst the stadium and the pitch has been under construction.

The first batches of turf began to be harvested this morning and are scheduled to arrive at the stadium this afternoon. The laying of the turf will take place over the period of approximately a week and a total of 10,0000m square of turf will be used to create the playing surface.

The turf will be transported to its new home in approximately 25 lorry loads and will arrive at the stadium in giant rolls measuring between 12m-16m long and 1.2m wide.

The latest technology has been tried and tested to produce a top quality playing surface for the new 'Venue of Legends'. The fibre sand pitch is made up of an underlying web of heating and drainage pipes plus 22,161 tonnes of crushed stone, gravel, grit, sand and a sand/soil and fibre blend.

The grasses used for the turf have been selected from 250 different varieties with each square metre of turf containing 150,000 to 200,000 leaf blades.

Once the pitch is laid, the unique design of the stadium's partially retractable roof will be crucial in helping to maintain a world-class pitch.

The roof, which is not designed to fully close, will be left open between events to allow the Wembley turf to be exposed to vital direct sunlight and ventilation, but can be moved to line up with the touchline to ensure spectators are sheltered during an event.

Once the stadium is complete, Grounds Manager Steve Welch will become the guardian of the Wembley turf.

Steve, who was previously Head Groundsman at Nottingham Forest's City ground and a former professional football club Groundsman of the year, will ultimately be responsible for keeping the turf in mint condition for the Stadium's prestigious line-up of events including The FA Cup Final, home Senior England Internationals and the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final.

Wembley Stadium Grounds Manager, Steve Welch said: "The turf going down is an important milestone for the stadium and I'm very excited about it.

"A lot of energy and planning has gone into ensuring that the pitch at Wembley is second to none – from the quality of the pitch construction, the spec of the turf to the design of the stadium bowl – all of which will help ensure that the playing surface is as good if not better than the famous Wembley turf of old."

Chief Executive of Wembley Stadium, Michael Cunnah said: "The turf going down is a significant milestone in the stadium's progress for us and our contractor Multiplex.

"The turf is a very symbolic part of any stadium and it is important for Wembley to follow in the tradition of being famous for having a fantastic playing surface. This new pitch will provide the stage for many great events to come and will be the place where new memories will be created."