Canada 2015: "The men’s World Cup will also be played on artificial pitches" (J. Valcke, FIFA)

"For many years now, any organiser of a FIFA event -- irrespective of whether it be a men’s or women’s competition, including the men’s World Cup -- has had the right to propose for the tournament to be played on artificial turf, provided that it is of the highest quality and the same playing surface is used for all venues and training sites. It could well be that sooner rather than later the men’s World Cup will also be played on artificial pitches," said Jérôme Valcke, secretary general of FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association), on 29/10/2014.

This announcement follows the gender discrimination complaint filed by a group of players against FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association in order to compete in the World Cup 2015 (Canada, from 06/06 to 05/07/2015) on natural grass and not artificial turf, the same as the men, on 26/09/2014. "The Canadian Soccer Association proposed for the tournament to be played on artificial turf based on the fact that most sporting infrastructure in Canada is on artificial turf, primarily due to the extreme climate in the host…