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Why did designing the World Cup pitches take eight years?
Yamal and Messi aren’t the only stars of the World Cup finals. If you’ve been watching any of the games, you’ve probably stared directly at a huge, unsung hero: the turf. Turf grass science is a real thing, and it’s John Sorochan’s area of expertise. He’s a scientist at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and he’s spent the last eight years preparing for the grass pitch the players are scoring on. John had the daunting task of figuring out how to create consistency and uniformity across all the World Cup stadiums. That meant dozens of team base camps and 16 different stadiums where turf had to weather all kinds of conditions – from Mexico City’s high altitude, to Miami’s sweltering heat. Today on Short Wave, we dive into the science behind it all. Interested in more science behind your favorite sports? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. It includes perks like bonus episodes, early access, archive access, curated playlists and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.
Spain's Mikel Oyarzabal scores the opening goal from the penalty kick during the World Cup semifinal soccer match between France and Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Tuesday, July 14, 2026.
Sam Hodde/AP
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Yamal and Messi aren't the only stars of The World Cup finals.
If you've been watching any World Cup games, you've probably stared directly at a huge, unsung hero: the turf.
Turf grass science is a real thing, and it's John Sorochan's area of expertise. He's a scientist at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, and he's spent the last eight years preparing for the grass pitch the players are scoring on.
John had the daunting task of figuring out how to create consistency and uniformity across the World Cup stadiums. That meant dozens of team base camps and 16 different stadiums where turf had to weather all kinds of conditions – from Mexico City's high altitude, to Miami's sweltering heat. Today on Short Wave, we dive into the science behind it all.
Interested in more science behind your favorite sports? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.
Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. It includes perks like bonus episodes, early access, archive access, curated playlists and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.
Listen to Short Wave on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
This episode was produced by Arundathi Nair. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the facts. The audio engineer was Robert Rodriguez.