An incredible amount of work is needed to create a perfect football pitch. A lot of international trade  is involved, too. In this episode of the "Trade Goals" podcast, players rave about fast pitches, tournament organisers praise robust playing surfaces and seed industry representatives explain how international phytosanitary standards facilitate trade in turf. We will also touch upon the gender dimension of playing on the best possible pitch.

We talked to

Philippe Senderos, Sporting Director of Servette FC, Geneva

Pierre-Yves Bovigny, Maître d'enseignement HES, Institute of Landscape, Architecture, Construction and Territory (HEPIA), Geneva

Darrell Dziver, Vice President of Brett Young, Chair of the Forage and Turf Advisory Group for the International Seed Federation, Canada

Rose Souza Richards, Seed Health Manager, International Seed Federation, Switzerland

Carrie Serwetnyk, player with the Canada women's national soccer team 1986-1991, founder of "Equal Play FC"

Víctor Umaña, CEO FIFA U20 World Cup Costa Rica

 

Learn more about:

Sanitary and phytosanitary measures explained

Video "Let's talk Food Safety"

The natural-versus-artificial-pitches controversy at the 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada

FIFA standard on pitches