In sports that were originally or are normally played on grass, artificial turf is a grass-like playing surface manufactured from synthetic materials. It is also called synthetic turf.

Artificial turf first came to prominence in 1965, when AstroTurf was installed in the newly-built Astrodome in Houston, Texas. The use of AstroTurf and similar surfaces such as 3M's "TartanTurf" and "Poly Turf" became widespread in the 1970s and was installed in both indoor and outdoor stadiums used for baseball and football in the United States and Canada. Maintaining a grass playing surface indoors, while technically possible, is prohibitively expensive, while teams which chose to play on artificial surfaces outdoors did so because even outdoors the clubs believed that maintaining a grass surface to the increasingly high standards demanded by leagues, players and even fans was often still far more expensive than installing and maintaining artificial turf - especially in colder climates and urban multi-purpose "cookie cutter" stadia such as Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium, Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium and Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium just to name a few.

Field hockey is generally played on artificial turf.

Some soccer clubs in Europe installed artificial surfaces in the 1980s. Called plastic pitches (often derisively) in countries such as England, by this decade artificial turf had gained a bad reputation on both sides of the Atlantic with fans and especially with players. AstroTurf in particular is a far harder surface than grass, and soon became known an unforgiving playing surface which was prone to cause more injuries (and more serious injuries) than a grass surface. The AstroTurf surfaces were also aesthetically unappealling to many fans. In the 1990s many North American clubs responded to this pressure by removing their artifical surfaces and re-installing grass, while others would move to new stadiums with state-of-the-art grass surfaces that were designed to withstand cold temperatures where the climate demanded it. In soccer, the use of artificial turf was banned by FIFA, UEFA and by many domestic associations.

In the early 21st century, new artificial playing surfaces using sand and/or rubber infill were developed. These "next generation" surfaces are often virtually indistinguishable from grass when viewed from any distance, and are generally regarded as being about as safe to play on as a typical grass surface - perhaps even safer in cold conditions. Many clubs formerly using Astroturf and similar surfaces have installed the new surfaces, while some clubs which have maintained grass surfaces are now re-considering artificial turf. With soccer clubs in Europe looking to reduce the number of winter matches that are routinely cancelled due to frozen pitches, the issue has also been re-visited by that sport's governing bodies.

FIFA Quality Concept

"As the game’s worldwide governing body, we have the responsibility to support any move to improve football equipment,” says Joseph S. Blatter, President of FIFA. In line with this commitment and in response to the growing trend to play football on artificial surfaces, the FIFA Quality Concept was expanded to artificial turf in 2001.

The FIFA Quality Concept for Artificial Turf is a rigorous test programme for artificial surfaces whereby successful manufacturers are able to enter into a licensing programme for the use of the prestigious FIFA RECOMMENDED marks. Synthetic turf for football pitches exist in various technical versions and not all of them are advantageous to the quality of the game or to a player’s health. Therefore, only artificial turf of the best quality with the highest technical standards gain a FIFA RECOMMENDED endorsement.

Since the implementation of the FIFA Quality Concept for Artificial Turf in 2001 there have been over 90 FIFA Recommended Installations around the world by 14 Artificial Turf Licensees (http://www.fifa.com/en/development/pitchsection/0,1245,6,00.html). Many of these pitches are owned by municipalities, which recognise that an artificial pitch can be hired out almost 24 hours a day/seven days a week. Equally, major clubs, like Ajax (Edel Grass ), Rangers (FieldTurf), Kaiserslautern (Polytan ), and Deportivo La Coruña (Mondo ) have installed FIFA RECOMMENDED artificial pitches as a central component in their training facilities. Many lower division and amateur leagues are already accepting artificial turf pitches for competitive matches. The positive feedback from players induces more and more top football clubs to consider artificial turf pitches in their stadia and football association to open their competitions for these surfaces.

Bigger and bigger stadia are taking the major step of laying an artificial turf pitch, including the Finnair (Töölö) Stadium (Mondo) in Helsinki that hosted ten matches, including the final, of the first major tournament, the FIFA U-17 World Championship, played on an artificial surface in 2003.

FIFA is responding to this development by introducing a segmented FIFA RECOMMENDED system with two quality levels as of 1 July 2004 which reflects the market situation. The creation of a second, more stringent standard, based on the results of an extensive research program, including player’s feedback and medical research, will further improve playability and safety.

The International Football Association Board has also recognized the advances in artificial surface technology and decided to introduce artificial surfaces into the Laws of The Game in July 2004. Following the International FA Board mandate to FIFA to create universal guidelines for artificial turf, the FIFA Quality Concept has been further developed by introducing a FIFA RECOMMENDED 2 STAR rating system. Based on player’s feedback, medical research, test results and information from the industry since the implementation in 2001, a second, more stringent standard has been developed in addition to the existing level. The creation of a top-of –the-range FIFA standard will further improve playability and safety. This new benchmark will lead the industry to develop artificial turf products even closer to the perfect natural grass pitch model and provide the world of football with the best artificial turf surfaces for the professional game.

The FIFA Quality Concept for artificial turf consisting of the FIFA RECOMMENDED 2 STAR and the FIFA RECOMMENDED 1 STAR quality levels is reflecting the segmented market situation.

As an alternative there is the possibility to use the wording 'International Artificial Turf Standard'. Artificial surfaces tested according to this designation have passed the same quality requirements as 'FIFA RECOMMENDED 1STAR” fields. The use of this designation is however not subject to a licence fee.

At present there are no 2* FIFA RECOMMENDED 2 STAR artificial fields, but according to Nigel Fletcher, Project Manager FIFA Quality Concept/Artificial Turf, the first ones are expected to be ready in May, 2005. When this happens it will be posted on www.fifa.com. UEFA have since announced that starting in the 2005-06 season, approved artificial surfaces will be permitted in their competitions.