Artificial turf in football: A performance perspective

This chapter examines the current research base that has investigated issues associated with the playing surface in terms of the changes to player performance. Starting with a brief history of the introduction of artificial turf (AT), it allocates the existing literature to four main foci: firstly, mechanical surface characteristics and performance, secondly biomechanical aspects of player performance, thirdly, the environmental factor of temperature, and finally, physiological responses. The chapter gives an overview of the existing research, investigating if the use of artificial surfaces instead of natural ones imposes different technical, tactical and performance related demands on the players and alters the player-surface and ball-surface interaction. It also emphasizes the need for ecological variety within testing procedures to ensure the mechanical tests more closely reflecting the player specific movements.