By Andrew Warshaw
March 26 – The next Women’s World Cup will make history as the first major FIFA trophy to be decided on artificial turf – but leading players have been quick to express their disapproval.
Canadian organisers have confirmed that Vancouver’s 50,000-capacity BC Place stadium, with its $1.2m artificial surface, will stage the final on July 5, 2015.
But within minutes of the announcement, U.S. star Abby Wambach tweeted her annoyance. “I think we need to start petitioning FIFA to not let games be played on Field turf for the World Cup. Who’s with me?” she wrote.
That stance was quickly followed by a series of other tweets from her national teammate Carli Lloyd. “Had a nightmare that the 2015 World Cup was going to be played on (artificial) turf! … Wonder if the men’s World Cup would ever be played on turf?,” she wrote. “Always more injuries on artificial turf. Bad enough we played our 2012 Olympic qualifying games on artificial turf. Never thought about WC.”
Canadian organizers, attempting to redress the balance, explained why the decision had been taken. Steve Reed, a national organizing committee member, told a news conference: “The final match, certainly, we wanted to maximize the number of participants, the number of people that are in the seats.”
“The players are entitled to say what they want but we’re working with FIFA and have been in sync at the highest level of FIFA with this,” Canadian Soccer Association general secretary Peter Montopoli was quoted as saying. “Laying real grass for one match, for a week, for 30 days – that’s a whole different dynamic and discussion.”
In a recent separate interview, Wambach suggested that asking women to play on artificial turf for a match of such importance was a step back.
“All of the men’s international players around the world would argue the same point,” she said. “A lot of these guys will not play on an artificial surface because it is an injury-prone surface and I don’t blame them.”‘
Meanwhile FIFA has reinstated Costa Rica as the host nation for next year’s Under-17 Women’s World Cup.
Last month FIFA stated that the tournament would have to be relocated due to “a number of unforeseen circumstances leading to heavy stadium construction delays”. But world football’s governing body has now relented following pledges made by the Costa Rican government and a report from CONCACAF.
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