The 2024 Copa América kicked off on June 20, and it was supposed to be a celebration. Facing a crowd of 70,524 at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, reigning World Cup champions Argentina beat Canada 2-0 in a competitive match that was perhaps a surprise. But talk of the result faded into the background as players expressed frustration and anger at the pitch conditions provided by CONMEBOL.
With the 2026 World Cup set to be played in many of the same stadiums across the United States, each new controversy over the condition of the Copa America pitches adds to ongoing concerns about the quality of the pitches and the difficulty of using NFL pitches for soccer. At the Copa America, some pitches are covered with natural grass, but many are covered with artificial turf, where temporary layers of grass have been laid over the pitch.
But why did CONMEBOL choose these field specifications, and will conditions improve when the United States hosts the world’s biggest sporting event, along with Canada and Mexico, in two years’ time?
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni led the charge after the final whistle last month, questioning why CONMEBOL waited until 48 hours before the match to prepare the pitch.
“They knew seven months ago that we were going to play here and they changed the pitch two days ago,” he said angrily at the post-match press conference. “It’s no excuse, but this is not a good pitch. Honestly, it’s not suitable for this type of player. We didn’t necessarily play a good game, we played according to the pitch and what the opponent suggested. We couldn’t have done more given the conditions. Look at the speed of the passes we made.”
Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez added to the frustration: “The game was very difficult. We faced a strong Canada team on a pitch that was disastrous. They jumped on you when you ran. We have to improve in that aspect – otherwise the Copa America will always seem like a lower level than the European Championship.”
Argentina’s players weren’t the only ones to voice their dissatisfaction with the pitches during the Copa America. “I think what Martinez said was absolutely right,” said US midfielder Weston McKennie after playing at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. “You’re playing on a football pitch where the grass is uneven and cracks with every step you take. It’s frustrating.”
Peru coach Jorge Fossati cited the unsatisfactory AT&T pitch as a possible cause of Luis Advincula’s Achilles tendon injury: “It came out of nowhere. I understand that this is a grass pitch today but it is not natural grass. It is not grass that is born and grows (naturally). It is grass that they bring from somewhere else. This could be a harder surface and it could affect you in this particular place (Achilles tendon). I am not a doctor but I have been working in football for a few years.”
Brazil star Vinicius Junior, Canadian Kamal Miller, Colombian James Rodriguez and Chile coach Ricardo Gareca were among the many prominent figures who all expressed concerns about the state of the pitches.
The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) announced the selection of 14 stadiums to host the Copa América matches last December. A mix of American football, Major League Soccer and multi-purpose stadiums were selected, with six artificial turf pitches and eight synthetic turf pitches selected. Three MLS stadiums were selected: Austin FC’s Q2 Stadium, Sporting Kansas City’s Mercy Park and Orlando City’s Inter&Co Stadium.
Frederico Nantes, CONMEBOL’s competitions director, said the size and capacity of MLS stadiums played a role in the decision to limit their use throughout the tournament. Issues of size, travel distance between cities and infrastructure were taken into consideration before CONMEBOL realised that artificial turf could not be avoided despite player protests about the surface.
To achieve consistency and fairness, CONMEBOL opted to standardise pitch conditions by ruling that each pitch would need modifications to comply with the pitch’s requirement of 100m x 64m (the traditional pitch measures 105m x 68m) and a 25mm density grass pitch. Copa América participants were notified of the change in dimensions eight months before the tournament, raising concerns once again.
Although the host venues were confirmed in December, preparations at each venue began seven months before the new rules were announced and implemented. CONMEBOL held talks on stadium maintenance, stadium management, logistics and coordination in June 2023 to prepare for the competition.
“We started the project in June, when we traveled to analyze the pitches and watch the matches here, and in November we started inspections of all the pitches and all the training centers. Reports were prepared with recommendations for everything that needed to be done. We had meetings with the agronomists and the programmers. Using a special technology, we identified all the grass farms,” said Maristela Con, agronomist at the South American Football Confederation.
The grass produced across the United States for the tournament uses a proprietary technology, whereby the company seeded any material over a plastic bed to ensure that each turf grows to a consistent height and density. CONMEBOL has described the system as “ready to play,” due to the product’s ability to be transported, installed and available for immediate use. Kuhn confirmed that the technology is the same as that used in stadiums in Europe, indirectly responding to comments comparing the conditions of the Copa America to the European Championship.
Despite the promise of uniform standards of measurement and quality across all stadiums, each stadium received different treatment once the competition began due to weather and construction conditions.
For the opening match at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the installation of the turf began three days before the match on 17 June when a refrigerated truck transported rolls of grass to the pitch so that the stadium crew could complete the 48-hour conversion process. The turf slabs were individually laid over the artificial turf to create the necessary cross-sections, before CONMEBOL staff began the aesthetic work of defining the pitch’s outline.
The federation conducted several tests before the match, including resistance and performance tests, to ensure that the grass met the organisation’s standards for quality, density and strength. But the measures failed to convince participants, who insisted that dry grass panels affected the speed of play and the way the ball rolled.
“They sewed pieces of grass together. They painted it to look nicer than it really is,” Scaloni noted.
Two weeks after the first match, CONMEBOL reassured the media that the pitch was fit to host world-class players at the tournament. The confederation conducted a second round of tests on the pitch ahead of the U.S. men’s national team’s match against Panama and found no reason to replace the turf or re-lay the boards.
“The pitch in Atlanta was not a threat at all. All the tests were adequate. I think the aesthetics of the pitch were the problem for the players, they care a lot about aesthetics,” Nantes said.
“In Atlanta we had the option to make a second conversion, which was a closed pitch ready for conversion and we decided not to make the change because the grass was very good and based on technical evaluations we decided it would not be necessary to make the change and we kept the first grass until the second game,” Cohen added.
Stadiums that grow grass year-round, such as Hard Rock Stadium, JEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, and Levi’s Field, have undergone a less stringent process. The pitches were replaced with new turf approved by CONMEBOL, but it was laid two weeks before the first game. However, Hard Rock Stadium will see a second pitch change four days before the final on July 14.
Despite the specific timeframe for installation and the pre-laid surface, CONMEBOL ensured that height, density, temperature and resistance tests were carried out before and after completion at each pitch to enforce uniformity. Although the grass was grown to a specific standard, the variation in the installation process and the base of the surface provided teams with a different playing experience. The density, height and strength of the grass did not create stark contrasts, but the base surface that was laid over it did.
The difference in surface areas from artificial turf stadiums like Mercedes-Benz Stadium, AT&T Stadium and MetLife Stadium provides different conditions than those with year-round grass like the stadiums in Miami and Kansas City.
Eight of the 14 stadiums used for the Copa America will also host the 2026 World Cup, and artificial turf will make a comeback. But FIFA intends to apply a different set of rules when bringing the international tournament to North America to avoid any disparity in experience. Under FIFA regulations, eight of the 16 planned World Cup stadiums that normally use artificial turf will have to install temporary natural grass surfaces for the tournament. But according to Alan Ferguson, FIFA’s chief stadium officer, all of the pitches will be hybrid, where a small percentage of synthetic fibres are woven into the natural grass to create a stronger surface.
FIFA’s goal, like CONMEBOL’s for the 2024 Copa America, is to create 16 stadiums that look, feel and play in much the same way, regardless of climate, grass type and pitch infrastructure.
“It’s important that we make these pitches as consistent as possible,” Ferguson said. “Whether it’s a pitch in Canada, in the Midwest of the United States or down in the mountains of Mexico, we want there to be consistency with what the player feels under their feet. For us, it’s all about consistency of playability for the player.”
The tournament will feature 16 host stadiums, 84 training pitches and 178 practice pitches, making standardization as complex as it has been throughout the Copa América. The challenges prompted FIFA to launch a research and development project to produce the ideal stadiums for the tournament after the host cities were announced in June 2022. FIFA intends to approach the standardization issue differently from CONMEBOL, giving participating nations hope that a solution will be found before the 48-team international tournament in two years’ time.
