Players' union urges FIFA to scrap early kick-offs at ‘extremely high risk' World Cup venues

New York Times

9 hours ago

Football's global players union has urged FIFA to abandon plans for midday and afternoon kick-offs to avoid the heat in three 'extremely high risk' venues at next summer's World Cup.
A report by FIFPRO, which represents more than 70,000 professional players worldwide, identified Kansas City and Miami, along with Monterrey in Mexico, as cities that carried 'extremely high risk' of heat-stress injury if World Cup matches are played in the afternoon.
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Atlanta, Dallas and Houston were also identified in that category due to high temperatures and humidity, but FIFPRO expects retractable roofs and climate-control technology to be used there to reduce the risk to players and spectators.
Another five World Cup host cities were cited as 'very high risk' (Boston, Philadelphia and Guadalajara) or 'high risk' (Los Angeles and New York/New Jersey). Only San Francisco and Vancouver were classed as 'low risk'.
Weather conditions have disrupted this summer's Club World Cup in the U.S., with FIFPRO saying that the matches between Chelsea and Esperance de Tunis, and Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid, should not have been allowed to kick off in such extreme heat in Los Angeles at midday local time.
FIFPRO has made representations to FIFA about kick-off times, but the union's leadership fears 'commercial interests' — driven by a pressure to satisfy a huge global TV audience, particularly in Europe and Asia — will hold sway in some cases.
Professor Dr Vincent Gouttebarge, FIFPRO's medical director, told reporters on a Zoom call on Monday: 'From our research, a couple of cities and some matches on the ongoing Club World Cup can be labelled as having a higher risk for heat-related illness, or, in the worst case, extreme high risk for heat related illness.
'There are certain areas in a country that will be more at risk. So think about match destinations such as Orlando or Miami, for example, where you can see over a period of years that there's a higher risk attached to these venues and destinations.
'The question is, if we look at match scheduling and match planning ahead of the tournament, if we actually need midday kick-off times in these locations or in these high-risk areas — if we should probably move towards late kick-off times as a preferences for these venues.'
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FIFPRO general secretary Alex Phillips said some of its recommendations for the Club World Cup had been taken on board by FIFA, but others — including around kick-off times — had been rejected.
FIFA is due to settle on its match schedule for the World Cup after the draw for the finals is made in December. There will be further conversations with FIFPRO over the months ahead, but the union says its powers are limited.
'I think based on this experience (of the Club World Cup), it (FIFA) is likely to be more flexible, but we have absolutely no power to force them to,' Philips said.
'We can only use informal pressure and good argumentation. We don't really have any coercive right.
'FIFA have actually modified how they've been dealing with heat during the (Club World Cup) matches, based on the FIFPRO outfit. Obviously it would have been if that had happened in advance, but it's better than they have adapted and they've put in place various different mitigation measures. There's additional water around the pitch, towels and so on.'
Dr Gouttebarge said one proposal being trialled is the extension of the half-time break — from 15 to 20 minutes — to help players hydrate and cool down. He also proposed shorter but more frequent in-game cooling breaks, suggesting that the three-minute break used at the Club World Cup (generally at 30 and 75 minutes) are less beneficial.
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