Football Pitch FAQ 10. How much top-dressing do we need? 
This will depend on a range of factors, including the current condition of the pitch, especially evenness of the surface, quality expectations and available resources.
The general guide is 10-tonnes of sand per 1,000m² of playing surface, but the wings are usually fairly well covered with vegetation at renovation time, whilst the central third in particular is usually thin to devoid of grass, especially in the goal and centre circle areas. Ideally a uniform coverage will be applied over the entire pitch, but in practice for many pitches this is not affordable so targeted applications may be required in those situations.
Continually top-dressing the central third of a pitch and not the wings will result in a gradual increase in height of this section. Where this is not excessive and an obvious ‘hump’ then the slightly increase in height can aid water run-off to pitch sides. This can be especially beneficial where secondary drainage is non-existent.
If budgets are very limited then end of season top-dressing applications might need to be confined to the worst areas, which will typically be within the 18-yard box and centre circle. Cultivation of thinner or bare areas outside of these areas could be carried out by chain harrow, with tines down, power harrow, or several passes with a heavy duty scarifier. The aim being to create a tilth in which newly sown grass seed can more readily become established.
Where resources allow then applying 70-tonnes (70,000kg) over a full sized 7,000m2 pitch might sound a lot, but actually works out as applying sand, or sandy material, to a depth of about 6.5mm (so one-quarter of an old imperial inch), depending on the density of the applied sand. If this is applied as a single application (although splitting the applications in two a couple of weeks apart might also be considered) then it might make the pitch appear to look like a beach but is actually a very shallow beach and the material will be fairly quickly incorporated into the pitch, especially once any newly sown seeds germinate and start to get established.
If the pitch has been used very little, ground coverage is dense and mostly of the desirable grass/es, and surface evenness is very good then there may be no need to apply any top-dressing in this situation.