We designed the turf for soccer’s biggest World Cup ever – here’s how we created the same playing experience across 3 countries

With 104 matches in 16 stadiums across Canada, the United States and Mexico, the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be soccer’s biggest event ever. It’s our job as turfgrass researchers hired by FIFA, the game’s governing body, to make sure those pitches feel the same for players and that the grass thrives. That’s not so simple. In fact, it seemed like an impossible challenge at first. Picking the right turf The scale of this job was unprecedented: three distinct climatic zones, over 3,100 miles between t