ELITE FOOTBALL
APPOINTMENT
ALAN IS ON TOP OF THE WORLD!
In a historic move, FIFA has appointed an in-house pitch manager to oversee all pitch-building activity for future World Cups. Respected groundscare expert Alan Ferguson talks from Russia about his new role
I By Blair Ferguson Freelance journalist
34 THE GROUNDSMAN July 2018
n September, Alan Ferguson starts a new full-time job with FIFA, the international governing body of association football, becoming the organisation’s first ever in-house senior pitch management manager. It’s a position he is flattered to have been offered. “What can I say? If I thought my previous role for The Football Association [at the National Football Centre, St George’s Park] was off the scale, this is off the planet!” He continues: “FIFA has undergone a huge transformation in the last two years, which has included FIFA Congress and advisors recommending that pitch management comes in-house. My role will
be to oversee all the pitch-building activity for pitches to be used in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and now 2026 in USA, Canada and Mexico. I will also support all other FIFA World Cups. “I will relocate to Zurich but will be on the road for much of the year. It is a huge privilege to have been selected to head up this global operation, and I have many
“It is a huge privilege to have been selected to head up this global operation”