Phil Sharples has been a sports turf professional for more than 30 years and is currently working as a Managing Director for a sports turf consultancy, management and construction business in Azerbaijan. A former head of department at a UK specialist sports turf college and consultant agronomist, Phil has managed multi-million-dollar sports turf projects in the Asian and Middle Eastern regions for the past 15 years and specialises in high temperature turf management in these regions.  

He also played a key role in the development of surfaces for the 2012 U17 FIFA World Cup in Azerbaijan and 2022 FIFA World Cup in Doha, Qatar as well as other high-profile televised sports turf events across the globe, including the grass track for the richest horse race in the World in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.