ARTIFICIAL SURFACES
SIS Pitches prepares Estadio BBVA as spotlight falls on Mexico
reparations ahead
P of the next World Cup are in full swing, with less than a year until the tournament commences on June 11, 2026.
The first to be hosted across three nations, 48 teams from six confederations will travel across North and Central America over the course of a month, visiting 16 venues to decide the winner. It’ s arguably the most logistically complex football tournament ever held, laying the foundations for a similarly ambitious centenary edition in 2030.
Estadio BBVA will be one of three Mexican stadiums used in 2026. Having opened in 2015 as the new home to Liga MX team CF Monterrey, the ground and much of its surrounding infrastructure already met FIFA guidelines. Recognising the need for playing surface improvements, however, the management team sought a full refit of the pitch in early 2025 to prepare it for the crucial months ahead.
This is where SIS Pitches entered the frame.
Elite in 10 weeks
The client brief was simple: deliver a pitch fit for World Cup standards and specification, playable within 10 weeks.
This short window was particularly challenging given the changes agreed through early consultation. Estadio BBVA’ s old playing surface was to be fully excavated to make way for a series of advanced drainage and aeration systems developed by SIS. Once installed, the top layer would then be fitted with a hardwearing stitched hybrid pitch.
Working together, these components not only promote ideal root zone growth conditions but also allow stadiums to manage a packed calendar of fixtures and events without impacting the quality of their playing surface. This was especially important for Estadio BBVA, with a packed summer of events and a full domestic football season planned before and after the World Cup.
The planning and process
As with any large project of this kind, the key to successful delivery lies in good preparation.
SIS and Estadio BBVA agreed work would commence in May 2025, once CF Monterrey’ s season concluded. From the early conversations held in January, this gave the SIS team only a few months to plan, design and procure everything needed to deliver the new pitch in time.
6 GroundskeepingJournal. co. uk | January / February 2026