A sports lighting project is not decided first on the choice of floodlight, but on an administrative line: the level of competition the facility must meet. The regulations of the federation concerned set the requirement, and they decide the height of the masts, the number of light points and, in the end, the budget. The standard, for its part, provides the method of calculation and verification.
The federation classification governs everything else
Each federation publishes regulations for sports facilities. Football, rugby, tennis, handball, basketball, athletics: the documents differ, the logic is identical. Practice is divided into levels, from simple training up to televised national competition, and each level has an average illuminance to be maintained, a minimum uniformity and additional constraints.
Two points are poorly understood. Approval is granted by the federation: the study serves to demonstrate that the planned installation will reach the required values, then to check it after the works. And these values change. A project designed on an outdated version can end up classified one notch lower. You therefore start from the current regulations and the target level, written down in black and white by the project owner.
NF EN 12193: the common grammar
The NF EN 12193 standard is the technical foundation of sports facility lighting, indoors as well as outdoors. It does not replace the federation regulations: it provides the vocabulary and method they use. In particular, it defines:
- the reference area over which the values are calculated, with its grid of measuring points;
- the average horizontal illuminance to be maintained, that is, the value guaranteed at the end of the maintenance cycle, not the value on the first day;
- uniformity, the ratio of the minimum to the average and of the minimum to the maximum;
- glare, assessed by the GR rating in the players' real directions of view;
- colour rendering, colour temperature and the maintenance factor, which takes into account dust build-up and cleaning frequency.
It sorts uses into three categories: high level, intermediate level, training and recreation. The federation regulations then specify what they expect for each of their own levels. An isolated value found online is therefore worthless without its text, its date and its discipline.
Training, regional, national: three steps, not a continuum
Each step adds requirements of a different nature, not just an extra percentage.
Level of use | What changes | Consequence for the installation |
|---|---|---|
Training, recreation | Lowest illuminance, tolerant uniformity | Simple layout, few light points |
Regional competition | Higher illuminance, tighter uniformity, documented glare | Point-by-point replacement is no longer enough |
National competition | Strict uniformity, demanding colour rendering | Full study, often taller or more numerous masts |
Video capture | Vertical illuminance, stability of flux, colorimetry | It is no longer the ground that drives the calculation |
Video capture changes the nature of the calculation
Without a camera, you light a surface and check what reaches it. As soon as there is video capture, the lit object becomes the player, in three dimensions: vertical illuminance is calculated in the direction of each fixed camera, which means knowing the camera positions before fixing the layout. Three constraints are added.
- Stability of flux. Extreme slow motion reveals the slightest light ripple. Power supplies must be chosen for operation without flicker perceptible to the camera, which cannot be read on a standard product sheet.
- Colorimetry. Colour rendering acceptable to the eye is not always acceptable on a sensor, and the difference shows on shirts as well as on skin tones.
- Uniformity between zones. A pan across a darker area causes an exposure adjustment visible on air.
A pitch designed for regional competition can almost never be brought up to video capture standard by adding power. The question is therefore asked at the start: does the club aim one day for broadcasting?
Uniformity and glare: where files fail
Average illuminance is the easiest criterion to reach: you just add lumens. Uniformity cannot be bought. It depends on geometry: mounting height, spacing of the masts, beam angle of the optics, aiming angles. A pitch compliant on average but outside the uniformity tolerance is not approved.
The average is made up with power. Uniformity is made up with geometry. This is why the layout is decided before the choice of equipment, never the other way round.
Glare follows the same logic. The GR rating is calculated in the players' directions of view, which are not those of the spectators. A goalkeeper facing two badly aimed floodlights, a badminton player following a high shuttlecock: these are the situations that size the visors, the aiming angles and sometimes the height of the masts. Luminaires dedicated to pitches and sports halls stand out first on this point: the luminance seen from the playing area.
Laying out the masts: geometry first
Two families of layout dominate outdoors: side lighting, with masts along the long sides, and four-corner lighting, reserved for large pitches and high levels. The choice depends on the target classification and on the space available.
- A rule of practice says that the angle between the horizontal and the aiming line, from the top of the mast to the furthest point to be lit, should remain at least around 25 degrees. Below that, grazing glare becomes hard to control and the height must increase.
- Several disciplines prohibit placing a mast in a given area around the goal axis, so as not to dazzle the goalkeeper. The federation regulations are authoritative.
- Reusing existing masts must be checked, not assumed: an LED floodlight is lighter than a metal halide floodlight, but the surface exposed to wind changes. Foundations, condition of the shaft, wind load, access by aerial platform: the calculation must be redone.
The move to LED floodlights with asymmetric optics has widened the possibilities: the beams are cut off more sharply than with the old sources, which serves uniformity on the playing area as much as limiting spill outside the site.
Halls and gymnasiums: the constraints of indoor facilities
Indoors, the subject shifts: the clear height is imposed by the building, reflective surfaces count and mechanical strength becomes a selection criterion, because a gymnasium luminaire gets hit by balls. Upward gazes, in volleyball or badminton, require treating the luminance seen from the floor. Luminaires designed for great heights provide a useful answer, provided impact protection and photometric distribution are checked, not just the stated flux. Two points are regularly forgotten:
- emergency lighting, governed by NF EN 1838, and the facility’s classification as a building open to the public;
- the ancillary rooms · changing rooms, circulation areas, weight rooms, offices · which fall under NF EN 12464-1 and the Labour Code, not NF EN 12193.
Obtrusive light: the neighbours and the sky
A lit pitch is a powerful source set in an often residential setting. NF EN 12464-2 governs obtrusive light: illuminance on neighbouring facades, intensity emitted towards an observer, share of the flux directed above the horizontal. These limits depend on the environmental zone, from a dense urban area to a protected natural site.
Added to this is the order of 27 December 2018 on the prevention of light nuisance, which explicitly covers sports facilities: switching off after the end of the activity, limiting flux towards the sky, capping colour temperature according to the zone. The applicable values are read in the text and depend on the site. The point is examined early, because it determines the optics and visors, not just the final adjustment. In practice, complaints from local residents rarely concern the installed power: they concern badly aimed floodlights or hours not respected.
Controlling, not just lighting
A facility does not need the same lighting for youth training, a match, cleaning or a security round. These scenes are programmed. LED brings a gain out of reach of the old sources: switch-on is immediate, whereas a metal halide lamp needed several minutes to restrike, which led people to leave it on "just in case". With control and safety solutions, the installation lowers its power for training, raises it on match days and switches off after the last session. On a site used all year round, the difference with on/off operation most often amounts to thousands of euros a year.
Financing the project within the 2026 framework
The framework has changed. The order of 23 February 2026, in force since 25 February 2026, abolished the CEE sheets BAR-EQ-110, BAT-EQ-127 and IND-BA-116: there is no longer a standardised bonus for indoor lighting renovation. For a gymnasium, you should therefore no longer count on it. Outdoor lighting renovation remains eligible through sheet RES-EC-104, revised by the order of 24 November 2025; the exact scope is checked file by file before any costed commitment.
Two solid levers remain: long-term leasing over three to five years, which in many cases lets the operating saving cover the instalment, and calculating the payback time zone by zone · pitches, halls, ancillary rooms · rather than as an overall average.
An example from outside sport gives a measure of the method. In an airport arrivals hall, 398 luminaires were brought down to 315; consumption went from €12,197 to €3,340 a year, a saving of €9,027 a year for a budget of €27,405, a payback time of 37 months and €16,880 net over five years. Other cases appear in our projects.
How we handle a sports project
Luminance Consulting has supported local authorities, clubs and industrial sites since 2013, with work throughout France. On a sports facility, the sequence does not vary: identify the savings potential, propose the solutions, build the financing plan, have the installation done, by our team or by the installer of your choice, then follow the project through to commissioning and the check of levels on the ground, instrument in hand. A calculation is not a measurement.
The audit and the photometric study are free, site visit and 3D modelling included. We are paid on the solution we supply and have installed · our Rexylum-brand LED luminaires, as well as ranges from Filamento Lighting and Tridonic -, not on the engineering. Calculation, choice of luminaires and field experience form one and the same trade.
Are you preparing an approval, a change of classification or the replacement of ageing floodlights? Tell us about your facility. The site visit, 3D modelling and photometric study are free: you get the level achieved, the uniformity, compliance on obtrusive light and the real cost of the project before any decision.
