Artificial football pitches: Why are they hated and are they bad for health and environment?

Artificial football pitches – made primarily of plastic – have several significant drawbacks that make them widely unpopular at elite level.

Though the surfaces have improved dramatically since the 1980s, there is a perception of increased risk of injury, plus an impact on a team’s style of play and – more broadly – the environment.

Artificial pitches tend to be harder than real grass, which can increase the risk of injury to players.

Turning is made harder on the knees and ankles by the tougher ground, and falls can lead to heavier, more damaging impacts.

In 2022, then Roma manager Jose Mourinho blamed the surface after defender Gianluca Mancini was injured during a Europa Conference League match with Bodo/Glimt.

Tottenham visit the Norwegian side in the Europa League on Thursday.

“The thing that worries me the most is the injury for Mancini,” Mourinho said after a 2-1 defeat. “It’s something caused by playing on plastic turf.”

Manchester United defender Luke Shaw has also gone public with his criticism of artificial surfaces.

Speaking after a Champions League defeat by Young Boys in 2021, he told TNT Sport: “These pitches, they shouldn’t be possible. It’s dangerous. It’s hard to turn on.

“It’s artificial grass… you can’t turn properly… it’s not good for the knees.”

Despite the criticism from those playing and managing on the surfaces, research in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, external concluded there was no evidence of a greater risk of injury on artificial turf when compared with natural grass.

However, the pitches can lead to differences in the way the ball moves, typically rendering play slower because of increased friction.

Teams who usually play on grass pitches can have their style of play badly compromised when travelling to face a team with an artificial surface.