Ireland’s SIS Pitches in action at nine of the World Cup stadiums

Irish company SIS Pitches’ advanced sports pitch technology is in action on football’s biggest global stage this summer.

It is contributing to high-performance playing surfaces across nine of the 16 host stadiums at the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico — including the venue for the final.

SIS Pitches was set up in 2001 by Sligo man George Mullan who is currently Chairman of the global company. The company has been involved in projects at some of the country’s most high-profile grounds including at the homes of Leinster Rugby at Donnybrook Stadium in Dublin and Munster Rugby at Thomond Park in Limerick as well as a full-pitch construction of Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork.

This summer’s tournament sees 48 teams compete across a diverse range of climates and venues in the three host nations. SIS Pitches’ technology will play a crucial role in maintaining consistent, world-class playing conditions throughout the tournament, despite the potential for extreme weather and the demands of an expanded fixture schedule.

The Sligo-headquartered sports field specialist has contributed different combinations of its SIS Grass Hybrid reinforced turf system, and subsurface drainage and aeration systems to nine of the host venues, one of which had its full pitch constructed by the company last summer. This builds on two decades of involvement in the World Cup which first saw SIS Pitches’ technology used at the 2006 tournament in Germany and has been featured more recently in both Russia and Qatar.

SIS Grass Hybrid is in action at stadiums in San Francisco, Miami, Kansas City, Toronto, Monterrey and host for the final, the New York New Jersey Stadium. The hybrid system sees synthetic fibres stitched into the surface across the entire field to provide increased durability enhanced root growth. This will help each hybrid pitch recover and perform consistently across different climates and grass types, from bluegrass to Bermuda grass.

SIS Pitches’ DrainTalent system is being used in Guadalajara, Seattle and Vancouver. Importantly for the world’s biggest football tournament, the system provides vacuum drainage to quickly extract excess water from the pitch in storm conditions to avoid delays or disruption to play. Where required, DrainTalent also has the ability to offer a subsurface irrigation function, delivering water directly to the rootzone from below. This promotes deeper root development and improves water efficiency, ensuring irrigation and drainage management can be delivered from a single platform.

The pitch in Monterrey was designed and constructed in full by SIS Pitches’ expert team in 2025 and then also maintained in peak condition during CF Monterrey’s regular season. It features SIS Grass Hybrid alongside the company’s SIS Heat Core undersoil heating and SIS Air Core subsurface aeration systems, with the latter promoting healthy growing conditions for the grass while also deploying powerful vacuum drainage to minimise disruption in the event of extreme rain.

With each venue presenting unique challenges ranging from high temperatures to the expectation of extreme rainfall, SIS Pitches’ technologies will play a crucial role in ensuring playing surfaces remain consistent for the duration of the 39-day tournament.

SIS Pitches’ sports surface expertise and technology have been combined with the capabilities of other specialist companies to deliver elite-level playing surfaces, including some built over stadiums’ existing synthetic pitches. This transition was made possible thanks to the knowledge and commitment of the American, Canadian and Mexican grounds teams who have worked tirelessly to ensure every stadium was fully prepared ahead of the tournament start.

George Mullan, Executive Chairman and Founder at SIS Pitches says:

“Seeing our technology present at nine of the 16 stadiums being used this summer is a huge moment for SIS Pitches and a reflection of the reputation it has around the globe. Having been heavily involved in the previous two tournaments in Russia and Qatar, and also involved in Germany, we understand how important it is that our technology works alongside that of other partners to ensure each pitch system performs as intended. For this tournament in particular, expert grounds teams and the best companies in the industry have come together across the stadium network to transform multi-use NFL and MLS venues into high-quality hybrid surfaces for the world’s best players.”

See more stories here.