Here’s the Soddest Story of the Cup

Want to buy a piece of the actual turf on which World Cup players have trod?

It can be yours for as little as $13.08, and you won’t even have to go to France. Of course, you will need to visit Spain.

European champion Real Madrid, the club home of Brazil’s Roberto Carlos, Spain’s Raul, Yugoslavia’s Predrag Mijatovic, Croatia’s Davor Suker and France’s Christian Karembeu, among other World Cup ’98 players, is selling its sod.

In an effort to reduce massive debts, Real Madrid is offering small rectangles of turf from famed Santiago Bernabeu Stadium for $6.54 to season-ticket holders and $13.08 to anyone else.

The field, where the 1982 World Cup final was played between Italy and West Germany, is being resodded as part of a renovation project and the club hopes to raise $327,000 from the sale of the turf.

Assuming there is that much grass-roots interest, of course.