A FIFA rule is preventing England from training on the same pitches that Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal will use at their Palm Beach Gardens base ahead of the World Cup.England are training at Gardens North County District Park, an 82-acre complex with 10 FIFA-compliant pitches, where Portugal will be stationed during the World Cup.Real Madrid were also based at the site during last summer’s Club World Cup.However, England are having to use different pitches to the ones booked by Portugal and Real Madrid due to a ‘Pitch Protection Period’ regulation enforced by FIFA that requires training facilities to prevent anyone using them in the 28 days before the team arrives.And because Portugal will be arriving well within that timeframe, and understandably wouldn’t want the pitches they are using to be worse for wear by the time they arrive, it means England are required to train elsewhere on the site, although this is something they would have known well in advance.The pitches England are using are of high quality, with the Football Association (FA) having sent out grounds staff as early as January to begin preparing the surfaces in time for England’s arrival on June 1.As part of their deal with FIFA, training facilities used by national teams for the tournament are paid a daily rate of up to $15,000, although this only kicks in from five days before a team’s first match and is paid throughout the entire group stage of the World Cup.The pitch protection period does not include a daily fee, meaning the training facilities are being asked not to use their pitches for close to a month, nor are they being compensated for it.England have booked two pitches at the expansive Gardens North County District Park and have also erected temporary gym facilities for the players, while Portugal are still finalising the build of their temporary facilities.In an interview with CBS 12 News on Tuesday, Gary Walker, the CEO of Palm Beach County Soccer Academy, said Thomas Tuchel, the England manager, was taken aback by the quality of the pitches.“We walked around and he couldn’t believe that these fields were for public use, not private use,” Walker told the news outlet. “He said, ‘This is unbelievable.’”England flew to West Palm Beach on June 1 to acclimatise to the heat and have arranged friendlies against New Zealand in Tampa (June 6) and Costa Rica in Orlando (June 10) before their tournament opener with Croatia on June 17 in Dallas.