FIFA targets perfect pitch for 2026 World Cup after Copa America pitches deemed disastrous
EAST LANSING, Michigan — THE 2026 World Cup arrives in North America with an ambitious plan, expanding the field by 50% and spreading the spectacle of football to 16 cities in three countries with multiple climates and altitudes.
FIFA, which wants to create the ideal pitch for each venue, has partnered with turf experts from the University of Tennessee and Michigan State University to research and develop the best surfaces for the tournament.
When the World Cup begins in less than two years with 48 teams playing 104 games in the United States, Mexico and Canada, no one wants the pitch — or the turf, as many soccer fans call it — to be the talking point the way it was earlier this summer for another major tournament.
The Copa AmericaOrganised every four years by CONMEBOL, South American football’s governing body, has been plagued by problems with unstable surfaces.
Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez called the artificial turf pitch a “disaster” after beating Canada in the opening match on June 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Criticism continued to be leveled at other teams and coaches as the tournament began.
“FIFA has high expectations and demands that we not fail,” John Sorochan, a professor of turf science and management at the University of Tennessee, said recently in a telephone interview. “That’s why they’re so supportive of research and preparation to avoid what happened at the Copa and the embarrassment that CONMEBOL experienced.”
As with this year’s Copa America, some soccer stadiums — including some with roofs — will host matches in the upcoming World Cup.
Sorochan, along with his mentor and former University of Michigan professor Trey Rogers, faced a similar challenge three decades ago, when the World Cup first came to the United States in 1994 and games were held inside the Pontiac Silverdome in suburban Detroit.
“One of the easiest decisions I’ve made so far for this tournament was the partnership between UT and MSU,” said Alan Ferguson, FIFA26’s Director of Infrastructure and Technical Services. “Both universities already had world-class reputations, both led by leading professors in the field of turf. I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel – it was already there.”
Climate change could be an added variable, especially with games stretching from Mexico to Canada, and turf experts are considering several varieties of surfaces to address it.
“While new grass varieties have not been bred specifically to meet the challenges of the World Cup, grass breeding efforts over the past 20 years have resulted in new grass varieties that have improved tolerance to heat, drought, disease and wear,” Sorochan said earlier this week.
The University of Tennessee has created what it calls a “shade house” to replicate an indoor stadium. The University of Michigan, meanwhile, has a 23,000-square-foot asphalt slab to develop the concept of laying turf grown on plastic instead of soil on stadium surfaces.
Rogers and his team are testing how the natural surface reacts to the bounce of a ball and when the studs make contact.
A few months ago, during the Copa America, Martínez said that the ball had jumped off the field as if it were a springboard.
The goal, Rogers says, is that in two years, no one will be talking about the playing surface at the World Cup.
“If nobody talks about the field,” he said, “we know we’ve done our job.”
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