Players get lawyers to fight Women's World Cup on turf

Several United States players are part of a group of player who have retained legal counsel to fight FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association's decision to play the 2015 Women's World Cup on turf. Abby Wambach leads the players group, as well as last year's FIFA Women's World Player of the Year Nadine Angerer.

Next summer's World Cup will be the first senior World Cup to be played on artificial turf. Previously, a U-20 World Cup has been played on turf, and this year's Women's U-20 World Cup will be played on turf as well. Both of those tournaments were also in Canada, where almost every stadium in the country has a turf surface.

According to the Equalizer, the group sent a letter to FIFA and the CSA, alleging that playing the World Cup on turf "is discriminatory and violates Canadian law."

The argument, and a rather strong one, is that FIFA would never allow a men's World Cup to be played on turf. Either Canada wouldn't be allowed to host or they would be required to lay down grass over the turf. Unfortunately, that's not an especially strong legal argument because they did play a men's youth World Cup on the surface.

The players are hoping that their lawsuit can force, or at least pressure, FIFA and the CSA to changing the World Cup surfaces to grass.