Bengaluru: FIFA is putting the World Cup final pitch up for sale—iterally. Small pieces of turf from New York New Jersey Stadium, where the 2026 World Cup final will be played on 19 July, are already sold out on the FIFA website. They were priced at $450.
The pieces, encased in resin to preserve the grass, won’t ship until after the final and can only be sent to buyers in the US, UK and Europe, according to a note on FIFA’s sales page.
The acrylic casing carries the 2026 World Cup logo, venue name, date and the final score. The box also includes a USB stick bearing what the listing calls an “authenticity film.”
The collectibles are made by UK-based Keep Stub, which sells three pricier versions on its own site—$900, $1,200 and $3,000—beyond FIFA’s $450 “Foundation” tier. All four tiers are still available on the Keep Stub website.
Each of the four tiers is capped at 2,026 pieces. A full sellout would generate more than $11.2 million.
What buyers get scales with price. The three lower tiers each include a 2.5-by-2.5-by-2.5-inch turf section, while the $3,000 “Hero Edition” comes with a larger three-inch cube, a gold-etched metal souvenir ticket, a miniature replica of the final’s match ball and a crystal-cut glass World Cup trophy.
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A subpar pitch
The Athletic‘s Melanie Anzidei reported that the surface was sourced from a turf farm in North Carolina. Fresh sod was laid at every World Cup venue for the tournament—including stadiums in Seattle, Atlanta, East Rutherford, Vancouver, Arlington and Inglewood that typically use artificial surfaces.
The New Jersey stadium pitch has drawn criticism from players and coaches through the tournament as dry and difficult to play on.
“The fact there’s a concrete slab underneath means the grass fibers are very short,” said France coach Didier Deschamps.
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Collectibles trend
The turf sale is FIFA’s latest pricey memorabilia offering for the tournament. In May, it launched limited-edition host city jerseys priced at $375 each, with only 999 made of each of the 16 designs.
Selling fragments of storied playing surfaces has become increasingly common. Boise State University in Idaho, US is selling pieces of its famous blue football turf. Prices range from $40 swatches to a $25,000 400-square-foot sheet with free home installation. Major League Baseball sells $50 jars of “field dirt” from Game 7 of the 2025 World Series at Rogers Centre. And Sotheby’s this week auctioned two court sections from Madison Square Garden’s NBA Finals Games 3 and 4, with each fetching more than $100,000.