With mere hours between now and the beginning of the 2026 World Cup, fans will be flocking to stadiums across the United States, Canada and Mexico to watch the world’s best take part in the planet’s greatest sporting spectacle.
In years past, in countries like South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Qatar, large-scale building projects were required to ensure the proper infrastructure existed to host such matches. This year, that isn’t the case – with every stadium in use already having been built in a nation that may take sports architecture more seriously than any other.
But those stadiums did receive one massive upgrade which has led to controversy, discussion and fear among fans: new playing surfaces.
Many of the venues being used for the World Cup are full-time NFL stadiums. In that league, the use of artificial turf is common – especially in venues that have either fixed or retractable roofs.
This needed to change for the World Cup. Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles are all roofed stadiums which got grass upgrades. Additionally, Gillette Stadium outside of Boston, MetLife Stadium in New York/New Jersey and Lumen Field in Seattle all installed grass as well to replace artificial turf.
With such an overhaul of the playing surface, the fear of serious injuries has risen – especially given the reputation of MetLife Stadium in particular – leaving fans fearing the worst.
With days before the start of the World Cup, fans are concerned over the state of the pitches being used across the United States which have been recently installed over artificial turf
Conditions at last year’s Club World Cup were blasted by players, coaches and spectators
Now, fans and players hope that some temporary grass installed at some of the biggest stadiums hosting the tournament will hold up under weeks and weeks of new use
In a true worst-case scenario, the grass pitches that have been laid down would start to come apart or wouldn’t grow in a way that keeps them tight to the ground.
Back in March, the Daily Mail got a behind-the-scenes tour of Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta which included a look at the field being laid down.
The grass was grown in Colorado and was done in a way to ensure it could travel to Georgia. Unlike the Club World Cup pitches – which received awful reviews from media, fans and players – this field received a full overhaul underneath with a state-of-the-art irrigation and aeration system. Above that, a layer of sand was put down before the grass itself – a hybrid of rye grass interwoven with synthetic fibers – was installed.
The United States men’s national team played a pair of friendlies that month and MLS club Atlanta United continued playing there, leading to positive reviews.
But these measures are all temporary for the World Cup and fields are expected to return to their turf afterwards – making growth a complicated process. As an indoor stadium, Atlanta also has a different situation regarding the climate of the building – which can be kept consistent, unlike in New Jersey.
While the playing surface itself is the same (i.e. grass and not artificial turf) across all venues, the consistency of it will be different. Some pitches will not be fully ‘broken in’ by the time games kick off.
Regardless, doing this was a necessity to make sure athletes could train and on the same style of surface they’re used to.
‘The playing surface significantly changes how forces are absorbed and transmitted through the lower body,’ Dr Shawn Anthony, an orthopedic surgeon and associate chief of sports medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, told the Daily Mail.
Dr Shawn Anthony of Mount Sinai Hospital warns unstable surfaces could result in injury
Temporary grass pitches were installed at indoor stadiums, like Mercedes-Benz in Atlanta
The field in Atlanta was praised by players after a USA-Belgium friendly in March
A member of the pitch management team checks the grass at AT&T Stadium outside Dallas
‘Differences in turf firmness, traction, and consistency can affect joint loading and muscle activation, especially during soccer’s explosive movements like cutting, pivoting, sprinting, and decelerating.
‘If the temporary grass is unstable, inconsistent, or grips differently than expected, it can alter loading through the foot, ankle, knee, and hip, resulting in injury.’
As Dr Anthony explained, when athletes used to playing on one surface play on one with ‘different mechanical properties’ – such as turf or a temporary field – the risk of injury increases.
‘Elite soccer players are familiar and accustomed to playing on natural grass surfaces,’ Dr Anthony said. ‘The concern is whether the temporary natural grass surfaces will behave and replicate the high level of consistency as permanent elite-level grass pitches.
‘While significant research has gone into these temporary surfaces, their performance during a match is less predictable. Variations in the traction, seams, or field inconsistencies could increase lower extremity injury risk, especially during periods of player adaptation.’
Variations would exist from one pitch to another, with nations set to play in multiple settings throughout the tournament.
With all this said, there was reassurance that just because a field is new, that doesn’t mean it is dangerous.
At MetLife Stadium, the venue medical officer will be Dr Riley Williams III of the Hospital for Special Surgery. Williams, who is also the director of the FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence, stressed to the Daily Mail that ‘there’s no evidence that an early use of a newly-placed sod field is any additional injury risk for a professional soccer player.’
AT&T Stadium in suburban Dallas was another stadium that received a new pitch
MetLife Stadium, notorious for turf causing injuries to NFL players, has also gotten new grass
Pink ‘grow lights’ illuminate the newly installed grass pitch at AT&T Stadium outside Dallas
Dr Williams added that grass is preferable to turf because studs in football boots are less likely to ‘stick’ into the ground.
‘As opposed to grass, the likelihood of that fixation, that stuckness in the grass of your cleat, is much less likely to occur. If you then extrapolate that and say, alright, well, maybe a more recently laid down sod surface is going to be looser, then you may even see an improvement,’ Dr Williams told the Daily Mail.
The best way to avoid any injury on these temporary pitches, in Dr Anthony’s opinion, would be to give teams ‘time to train on the competition surfaces before matches’ to ‘allow athletes time for targeted neuromuscular training’ and to ‘practice movement patterns specific to the field conditions.’
‘Medical and performance staffs should also reinforce soccer-specific injury-reduction warmup programs, such as the FIFA 11+,’ Dr Anthony added, stressing, ‘Compliance is key – these programs work best when athletes perform them consistently.’
But while proper training and preparation are important, they can only go so far. In the end, the best fans can hope for is that the pitches behave the way they’re supposed to.
Months of testing and installation have seen stadiums do their best to meet FIFA standards for a major tournament, which will have the eyes of the world upon it.
Now, fans will watch on with hope – and, perhaps, some apprehension – that injuries can be kept to a minimum as the world’s most popular sporting event plays out.
