A Cut Above the Rest: How To Care for Your Lawn, According to a FIFA Turf Expert

The turf at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. was in rough shape by the end of May 2025, as D.C. United hosted the New York Red Bulls’ 2–0 road win. The pitch (that’s soccer talk for field) had an almost-plaid pattern of dark green and pale yellow, signs of a season’s wear and tear. But even with the regular Major League Soccer season nearly at a wrap, Audi Field won’t be quiet for long.

That’s thanks, in part, to Alan Ferguson.

Since 2018, the Scotland-born Ferguson has served as Senior Pitch Management Manager for FIFA, soccer’s international governing body. That means he’s in charge of creating and maintaining the fields that are featured in all of FIFA’s international tournaments.

By his own estimate, Ferguson spends over 200 days of the year away from his home in Ipswich, England, which makes him perhaps the most well-traveled lawn care specialist in the world. But currently, most of Ferguson’s days are spent in the United States, because the country is about to host two major tournaments: the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup and the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

While kickoff for the World Cup—which will be co-hosted with Mexico and Canada—is slated for June 11, 2026, the month-long Club World Cup will be held exclusively in the United States. The tournament starts on Saturday, June 14, in Miami, Florida, and runs through Sunday, July 13, with tickets available now.

The upcoming games will give stateside fans the chance to see some of their favorite players from across the soccer ecosystem compete ahead of next year’s big bash. It also allows experts like Ferguson to kick the tires on the stadiums and their pitches to ensure everything is in the green, so to speak.

To get a better sense of what goes into maintaining all that turf for FIFA’s major events, Mental Floss caught up with Ferguson to talk about his work, his love of soccer, and how the two came together. Not only that, but we wanted to know what lawn care tips this turf expert might have for everyday homeowners who are looking to make their own backyards feel like more of an even playing field this summer and beyond.

1. Pitch Perfect: How Ferguson Got His Start
2. Turf Talk: How To Get a Stadium-Worthy Lawn Right at Home

Pitch Perfect: How Ferguson Got His Start

Which came first, your interest in soccer or your interest in lawn care?

Probably the lawn care. My grandfather did it. I went with him to some jobs he did as a kid, [when I was] about 9 or 10 years old, and I was mesmerized by what he did when he cut the stripes into the lawn. He always told me it was magic, and I was that gullible as a kid. At that age, I believed it. But that kind of got me.

The soccer bit came when I was around 10 years old. My father took me to see Scotland playing England and the old British [Home] Championship at the old Hampden Park. There were 110,000 people there that day. It was on my birthday [on April 25, 1960]; I never forgot it … [after that] I was hooked.

What’s your first great football memory?

Well, my first great football memory would be that [Hampden Park] game in Glasgow. I’d never been in a soccer stadium at all up until that time, and back then, you know, I was only 10 years old. … TV was just going color; soccer on TV was pretty rare. There was no satellite coverage, there [was] no pay-per-view.

So how did these interests wind up intersecting? 

I worked for the head greenkeeper at St. Andrews Links, a gentleman by the name of Walter Woods. Back then, he was considered a pioneer of his time. He wanted to reform education for turf managers. He wanted to unite turf managers around the world. In [the] early part of my career, he said to me one day in his office, “What do you actually want to do in your career?” I said, “Well, you know, I kind of want a job like yours.” That’s where I want to aspire to.

In the early 1980s, I left golf and went into turf contracting in Scotland, but a lot of the work that the company I did it for [near Edinburgh] … was in soccer, the Scottish clubs, and that’s kind of how I got into soccer full time.

But the international work probably didn’t start for me until it was probably halfway through my career with Ipswich Town Football Club in the English Championship. They got into a bit of financial difficulty [and] part of the deal was that I could look for alternatives to my salary because the club didn’t have the money to make it up.

I got involved with our groundskeeping association over here in the UK. Part of that was working for [Union of European Football Associations], one of FIFA’s six confederations. … Then, you know, when you get a taste for that, you set your sights even higher.

When did you start fully working for FIFA?

In 2018, when I was in Russia working for a contractor friend of mine at the World Cup. I was based in Moscow at the Luzhniki Stadium and the guys who were working for FIFA there.

They seemed to like what I did. I got on really well with them. About halfway through the tournament, they told me there was a [restructuring] going on within FIFA. FIFA didn’t have an in-house pitch manager … until I joined in September 2018, which is remarkable when you consider it’s the world football body.

To be given that chance to go and do your dream job and start with a blank sheet of paper, I mean it: It is properly mind-blowing. But, you know it’s something you’re going to grab with both hands for sure.

Growing up a fan of the game, I’ve sometimes heard accusations from visiting teams saying, “Oh, the grass was too short or too long or too wet or too dry.” And it’s usually because they think the home team wants to maintain some advantage in how the ball is controlled. How much of that would you say is true, and how much of that is sour grapes?

You’ll always get a bit of that; that’s gamesmanship, and it’s part of the modern game. It’s been part of the game for years. I’ve had managers that I’ve worked for that have said to me, “Don’t let the pitch be the excuse for a player having a bad match.”

So, you know, don’t let a bad workman blame his tools. I always set out the pitch to set it up for both teams. If you have a really good surface and your team is playing their home games there, you like to think that they get to know that.

These days, what’s been the biggest challenge facing your piece of the game?

It’s probably the intensity and the size and scale of the tournaments and the stadiums that they’re now played in.

I mean, the modern-day soccer stadiums are magnificent theaters of soccer. As a fan, you could have a fantastic fan experience, but you know, the higher they build them and the bigger the roofs they put on them, the harder they make the job. [And] when we start to close out natural sunlight, natural air movement, and we have to replace that artificially, it brings another challenge to the job.

Is that what usually stresses you the most in the run-up to a big game or a tournament?

Obviously, you know, I think we’re quite thorough in the buildup to what we do. But at the end of the day, we work with Mother Nature, and sometimes when she plays you a hand, it’s not the hand you’re expecting or the hand you want, you know.

In the lead-up to a game, with your daily program [i.e., to-do list], you’ve probably rehearsed that all by heart, but there’s always something that could come out of left field and completely knock you off your pace, and you just have to be ready to expect the unexpected.

When do you finally feel like you can relax?

There’s a saying in soccer that you’re only as good as your last game. And you know, if we’ve had a good game, you probably only dwell on that for 20 to 30 minutes. Then you have to start moving on to the next one because the next one in a FIFA tournament world is maybe only 48 hours away in the group stages. You don’t get much time to dwell on the successes.

Turf Talk: How To Get a Stadium-Worthy Lawn Right at Home

Obviously, there are major differences between home lawn care and maintaining a pitch for the professional game. Will you walk me through a few of the major ones?

I think the big obvious one is the intensity of the maintenance that you have to put in [to] generate or produce a top-quality soccer field versus a top-quality domestic lawn.

Your domestic lawn is probably going to be subjected to the kids, the next-door neighbors, dog or cat, whatever. It’s pretty lightweight in terms of use, whereas [on] the soccer field, at the highest level … you’ve got 22 finely-honed athletes at any one time running about on there and international squad terms. [The pitch] gets absolutely hammered. So that level of intensity is probably the obvious difference.

What kind of grass is usually used in the stadiums?

The grasses that we use in the soccer world are actually the same grasses that you can use on your domestic lawn. 

We’re principally using three grass varieties for the [Club World Cup]: We’re using Kentucky Bluegrass, which is native [to] the U.S. We’re [also] using Bermuda grass, which is more commonly found down in the Southern states. And we’re using perennial ryegrass, which can be found in most of the cooler season climates … it’s ideal, for example, [for] going into the air-conditioned indoor stadiums.

Can homeowners actually buy this kind of grass and use it at home? 

You could go [to] any lawncare center or garden center in your local town, and you can buy these grasses and put them in. The rest of it’s down to you.

It all comes back to the maintenance. So if you walk down your local street and you see a guy who’s got nice stripes on his lawn, he’s probably spending a whole lot of time on that. … But in truth, in principal terms, it’s not so different from what we do in the professional environment.

We’ve talked about visiting teams feeling like the length that grass is cut could be an issue for games, but could cutting grass too short pose a problem for homeowners too? If so, how?

Yes, it can. Every grass variety has a height of cut it is comfortable with. If you go in too low, you add to the stress of the plant [and] it can trigger other issues, such as disease and poor growth.

I always tell people that grass is a living thing like us. We get things thrown at us [that] we don’t like or can’t cope with, [and] it never has a happy ending. The grass is the same. Go on to any website, enter the grass variety you are going to have in your lawn, and you will find no end of good quality information that can help you to build your lawn plan.

Are there certain things that you think homeowners should really keep in mind when they’re trying to make the most out of their lawns?

I think [they should] do a little bit of research, look where [their] home is located geographically [and] climatically. You know, are you in a colder part of the country or a warmer part of the country? ... If you’re in some of the warmer states in the U.S., for example, there [are] some [types of] grasses [that] won’t grow over certain temperatures. So it really pays to do your homework and try and match the grass type to your region.

You [also] need to be dedicated. You only get out of something what you put in, and if you want to have a good-quality lawn, then you have to be prepared to put the hours in. … It’s not just a case of planting the seed or putting our sod down and walking away and leaving it. [The lawn] does need a lot of tender love and care throughout [the year].

[And] be prepared to make a small investment. You don’t have to bust the bank but be prepared to buy some good tools: A good lawn mower and some good maintenance equipment for it [are essential].

On the opposite side, are there any specific habits you think homeowners should really avoid when it comes to lawn care maintenance?

Try to determine the standard of lawn you really want. If it is ornamental and like an Augusta putting green, [try to] ensure you have the infrastructure and budget to cope with such quality. It’s easy to misjudge how much money and effort is required to achieve such a lawn.

A local consultant is often a good first point of contact to run through your plans. If the lawn is for kids, try and ensure you get the right grass varieties that can take a bit of a hammering. Same if you have pets. The message here is aim for what you can afford and cope with.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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