One Team Beneath the Game: The Collaboration Powering World Cup 2026

How a global network of scientists, sod farmers, NFL groundskeepers and Premier League veterans are quietly building the foundation of the 2026 World Cup

FIFA 2026 World Cup pitch preparation is unfolding far from the spotlight, not just inside stadiums but on research fields in Knoxville, Tennessee.

On a quiet stretch of turf, university scientists, sod farmers, NFL groundskeepers and FIFA officials are working together to prepare 16 World Cup 2026 stadiums across the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The largest tournament footprint in history will depend on something deceptively simple: whether the ball rolls true on every surface, from Miami to Vancouver.

The University of Tennessee hosted FIFA World Cup 2026’s Pitch Management Research Field Day this week. (courtesy of FIFA)

This is not just preparation. It is coordination on a continental scale.

“For me and for FIFA Pitch Management, this was a journey that started back in 2018 over a cup of tea in a café in the East End of London,” said Alan Ferguson, FIFA’s senior pitch manager. “Coming from the smallest FIFA World Cup footprint in Qatar in 2022 to the biggest one in 2026, it was already presenting some very unique challenges.”

Sixteen stadiums. Three countries. Different climates. Different grass varieties. Five indoor venues. Eight synthetic surfaces that must be converted to natural grass.

The scale demanded something new.

“I said to the guys three years ago we do this as one team,” Ferguson said. “And we’re very much doing that as a one-team approach.”

From Research Plots to 16 World Cup 2026 Stadiums

That team begins in the laboratories and research plots of the University of Tennessee and Michigan State University.

Between the two institutions, researchers have conducted more than 200 individual trials in the lead-up to 2026. Their focus is not simply growing grass. It is understanding how the ball moves across it, how players cut and plant on it, and how surfaces respond under tournament stress.

“As my programs evolved, I’ve always focused on athlete-to-surface interactions and how the ball-to-surface interacts as well,” said Dr. John Sorochan of the University of Tennessee. “The ability to provide evidence-based science and data to come up with a system that’s going to help provide consistency and uniformity across all the surfaces is key.”

Testing has been in motion in Knoxville for a long time to make the World Cup pitches consistent for players (courtesy of FIFA)

Consistency is the mission.

“If they have seven games, eight games, or four games, or nine, we want that pitch to be consistent from the first match to the last match,” Sorochan said. “And then how does that stadium at sea level in Miami be consistent with indoors in Vancouver?”

That question has driven innovations such as the “shallow pitch profile,” hybrid reinforcement systems, plant growth regulators for indoor venues, and refined sod production techniques.

None of it happens in isolation.

The Sod Industry’s Role

Michigan State’s Dr. Trey Rogers calls the American sod industry “unique around the world” because of its ability to produce natural grass on plastic sheeting — a system that allows turf to be transported and installed quickly.

“When somebody like FIFA shows up and wants to push our knowledge forward, it is phenomenal,” Rogers said. “I know what it did after 1994. I can only hope I stay around long enough to watch what happens after this one.”

That reference to 1994 is not accidental. Rogers led the modular turf installation at the Pontiac Silverdome for that World Cup. Research from that era influenced sports surfaces for decades.

FIFA is betting that 2026 will have a similar ripple effect.

“The research program has been the cornerstone to the success we’ve had to date,” Ferguson said. “There was a huge doubt across the turf world when the award was made… but everybody has done everything that we’ve asked of them and an awful lot more.”

Transforming NFL Stadiums for the 2026 World Cup

The doubts were understandable. Many 2026 venues are NFL stadiums built for artificial turf, concerts and multipurpose events.

“We’ve gone into the NFL buildings which host America’s biggest sport but were never really built for international soccer,” Ferguson said.

Installing a World Cup pitch means coordinating with broadcast crews, LED board installations, marketing teams and stadium operations. It means transporting freshly harvested sod from farms to urban venues while racing against weather and tight timelines.

“Even with the best laid plans… you are to a degree a little bit in the lap of the gods,” Ferguson admitted.

Time is the most precious resource. For the Club World Cup last year, some stadiums had as little as five days to complete installations. For 2026, the window stretches to several weeks. It is not ideal, Ferguson says, but it is progress.

Meanwhile, local grounds crews, many accustomed to managing synthetic surfaces, are being integrated into the process.

“We’re almost kind of grooming them in as we’re grooming the pitches in as well,” Ferguson said.

What the Club World Cup Revealed About FIFA’s Pitch Preparation

The Club World Cup served as a real-time stress test.

Extreme West Coast heat dried out some surfaces early in matches. FIFA responded by introducing irrigation during cooling breaks, adjusting ball speed mid-game. European teams offered feedback on grass length. Researchers refined mowing protocols.

It was not defensive. It was adaptive.

“I sit in a NASA-styled center in HQ,” Ferguson said of monitoring matches. “It was very noticeable… the ball was slower and we needed to speed it up.”

That willingness to adjust reflects the larger philosophy. Collaboration is not theoretical. It is operational.

Knowledge Without Borders

This week's event was significant not just for this summer's World Cup, but for future tournaments as well (courtesy of FIFA)

The Knoxville seminar this week included representatives from 2030 and 2034 host nations. Knowledge is already moving forward.

Researchers regularly exchange ideas with Premier League grounds managers. Ferguson himself built his career in England before taking FIFA’s global role.

“The English setup… the groundsmen are world renowned,” Ferguson said. “They’ve made a vast contribution to this already.”

The result is a transatlantic feedback loop: American universities testing ideas, European clubs refining them, FIFA standardizing them for the world stage.

The Invisible Foundation of the 2026 World Cup

If everything goes according to plan, none of this will be noticed next summer.

“The field’s not talked about after the game except for how wonderful it looked,” Sorochan said.

That is the paradox. The more invisible the work, the greater the achievement.

Sixteen stadiums will host 104 matches across North America. Players will sprint, pivot, tackle and strike without thinking about root zones, sand profiles or hybrid stitching. Fans will focus on goals, not grass.

Beneath every pass and every touch, however, will be a network of researchers, farmers, groundskeepers and managers who chose to operate as one team.

And if the ball rolls true from Miami to Vancouver, from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, it will be because that team beneath the game did its job.