NFL leaves its mark on pitch

AMERICAN football markings will still be visible on the Wembley pitch for england’s final home World cup qualifier tonight, with groundstaff struggling to remove all evidence of the NFL game hosted last Sunday.

Gareth Southgate’s men can seal their place at russia 2018 with a victory against Slovenia, but the visit of the miami Dolphins and new Orleans Saints on Sunday has allowed just a four-day turnaround for staff to prepare the pitch for this important fixture.

Sportsmail understands that more time would usually be allotted to complete such a transformation — in this case, removing the NFL’s gridiron markings, team logos and branding from the playing surface and ensuring its playability meets the usual high standards set by Wembley.

And despite working solidly to restore the pitch this week, the groundstaff will be unable to erase all markings by this evening.

The extremely physical nature of American football means its fields are subject to high levels of wear and tear, and previous NFL games hosted in London ondon have resulted res in the Wembley pitch cutting up badly during subsequent england matches. But a pitch playability test was carried out on the surface yesterday and it is understood that the only adverse effects of Sunday’s game are of a cosmetic nature.

remnants of American football games were often visible during england matches in the earlier years of the NFL’s regular Wembley visits — each of which is believed to earn the FA in excess of £3million.

Slovenia were also the visitors for a european championship qualifier in november 2014, six days after Wembley had hosted the Jacksonville Jaguars and Dallas cowboys, and complained that the pitch had been ‘ completely ruined’.

The FA will also be keen to avoid a repeat of the build-up to last year’s home qualifier against malta, which saw groundstaff still trying to paint over a giant Jacksonville Jaguars logo in the middle of the centre circle just hours before kick-off.