The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has ruled out the use of synthetic turf for AFC competitions, effective August 2025.

In a letter to its member associations, the AFC announces that it has updated its Field of Play surface requirements. Accordingly, the use of synthetic turf surfaces will no longer be permitted in AFC competitions.

This includes the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers (final round), the AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers, the AFC Asian qualifiers, the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament qualifiers as well as the FIFA World Cup qualifiers preliminary joint qualification round 2.

The decision also affects the AFC Champions League Elite, the AFC Champions League Two as well as the AFC Women’s Champions League.

The AFC calls on all participating member associations and clubs in the aforementioned competitions to nominate stadiums with turf or hybrid surfaces for AFC’s approval.

Second biggest market

The AFC justifies its decision by claiming that, in recent seasons, they “have witnessed varying levels of pitch quality and consistency, particularly at venues with synthetic turf. Feedback from various stakeholders has underlined the need for more uniform and elevated standards of playing surfaces in our premier competitions, to safeguard player welfare and uphold the integrity of the game.”

The announcement has taken the Asian football fraternity by surprise. According to the FIFA website for (FIFA approved synthetic) football turf, the AFC region has the second highest number of FIFA quality (Pro) approved synthetic turf installations, with no fewer than 291 currently certified installations. This excludes installations that have not been officially certified or of which the certificate has expired.

Each FIFA certified field is tested and certified upon completion. Certificates for fields certified to the FIFA Quality standard are valid for three years. Certificates for fields certified to the FIFA Quality Pro standard are valid for only one year. The FIFA Rules of the Game stipulate that all fields used for FIFA sanctioned competitions have to have a valid FIFA certificate meaning that the quality of these surfaces is established regularly.

Reference to “maintenance” absent

The AFC letter expresses only its observations. It doesn’t mention the cause of the claimed variation in levels of pitch quality and consistency, or any remedial action it has taken (over the years) to ensure such issues were addressed by AFC member associations.

Pitch quality and consistency related issues with synthetic turf surfaces can usually be attributed to poor maintenance.

FIFA regulations stipulate that contractors building a field that is expected to be FIFA-certified, do have to provide maintenance equipment as well as training before hand over to the client.

Maintenance activities revolve around maintaining an adequate infill level, as this will result in the synthetic turf yarn blades retaining their upright position, which is important to achieve the required ball roll as well as ball bounce.

The regular maintenance of the surface also reduces the wear on the synthetic turf yarn and the surface.