The 2026 World Cup is coming to North America with an ambitious plan: expanding the field by 50% and spreading the football spectacle across 16 cities in three countries with multiple climates and elevations.
In order to create the perfect field for each venue, FIFA 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 kicks off in less than two years with 48 teams playing 104 games in the United States, Mexico and Canada, no one wants the field of play (or pitch, as soccer fans call it) to be the talk of the town the way it was earlier this summer at another major tournament.
The Copa America, which is organised every four years by South American football organisation CONMEBOL, has been plagued by problems with unstable surfaces.
Argentina and Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano “Dibu” Martinez called the grass pitch that replaced artificial turf a “disaster” after beating Canada in the opening match on June 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The criticism continued with other teams and coaches at the start of the tournament.
“FIFA has high expectations and demands that there be no failures,” John Sorochan, a professor of turf science and management at Tennessee, said recently in a telephone interview. “That's why they are supporting so much research and preparation so that what happened at the World Cup and the embarrassment that CONMEBOL suffered doesn't happen again.”
As with this year's Copa America, some football stadiums, including some with roofs, will host matches at the upcoming World Cup.
Sorochan, along with his mentor and former Michigan State professor Trey Rogers, tackled a similar challenge three decades ago when the World Cup first visited the United States in 1994 and matches were played indoors at the Pontiac Silverdome in suburban Detroit.
“One of the easiest decisions I’ve made so far regarding this tournament was to partner with UT and MSU,” said Alan Ferguson, FIFA26’s Director of Infrastructure and Technical Services. “Both already had world-leading reputations, both were already led by world-class grassroots faculty. I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel – it was already here.”
Climate change may 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 no new turfgrass varieties have been developed to specifically address the challenges of the World Cup, turfgrass breeding efforts over the past 20 years have resulted in new turfgrass varieties that have improved tolerance to heat, drought, disease and wear,” Sorochan said earlier this week.
Tennessee created what it calls a greenhouse to replicate an indoor stadium. Michigan State, meanwhile, has a 23,000-square-foot asphalt slab to develop the concept of placing grass grown on plastic instead of dirt on stadium surfaces.
Rogers and his team test how the natural surface responds to ball bounce and cleats making contact.
A couple of months ago, at the Copa América, Martínez said that the ball jumped off the field as if it were a trampoline.
In two years, Rogers said, the goal is to not hear anyone discussing the playing surface at the World Cup.
“If no one mentions the field,” he said, “we know we've done our job.”
