Soaring temperatures during Club World Cup raise concerns for 2026 World Cup

Japan Times

2 days ago

Soaring temperatures at this year's Club World Cup have raised concerns over afternoon kickoff times at the 2026 World Cup, as the expanded tournament poses logistical challenges for organizers.
A heat wave across the United States saw Borussia Dortmund face South Korea's Ulsan in Cincinnati on Wednesday with temperatures exceeding 32.2 degrees Celsius with the kickoff at 3 p.m. local time.
Players took advantage of FIFA's once-per-half cooling breaks during games this week while Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca told reporters it was "impossible" to organize regular training sessions in the afternoons in sweltering Philadelphia.
Global players' union FIFPRO said the conditions should "serve as a wake-up call."
"As climate change is making extreme weather conditions, including dangerous heat, an increasingly urgent issue for everyone in the football industry, the risk posed by kickoffs in very high temperatures is real and growing," a FIFPRO spokesperson said.
FIFPRO urged global soccer bodies to reevaluate kickoff times to better address heat conditions, while praising organizers like FIFA for its flexibility in adding cooling breaks to games.
"We believe there is still a lot more that should be done to prioritize player health and safety," FIFPRO said.
"Current protocols and laws of the game require urgent revision — this is a challenge the entire football industry must take on together."
FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Match times for the 2026 World Cup, cohosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, have yet to be announced, but organizers may face challenges if sweltering conditions return.
Heat issues would come as no surprise to those who were at the tournament in 1994, the last time the United States hosted.
"The cacophony of complaints echoing across the land could drown out the cheers at the nine stadiums where they are showcasing international soccer's quadrennial event," the Los Angeles Times wrote a week into that tournament, as high temperatures had fans steaming.
More than 90,000 fans piled in to watch the final in Pasadena, where temperatures reached 37.8 C. It was the last time that a World Cup final was played entirely in daylight.
With the tournament expanding from 32 to 48 teams, afternoon kickoffs may be unavoidable to meet scheduling demands and accommodate lucrative European broadcast markets.
"The big broadcasters are investing a ton of money, so they're not super interested in having the schedule changed to accommodate heat if it means that they're not going to make as much ad revenue," said Madeleine Orr, an author and sports ecologist.
Host cities at the highest heat risk in 2026 — including Miami, Monterrey, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Boston and New York — should avoid kickoff times in the hottest afternoon hours, Orr said in a study she co-authored earlier this year.
Orr said pushing more afternoon games to one of the tournament's four indoor venues in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Vancouver could be part of the solution.
"You need your broadcasters to be happy," Orr said.
"If we're talking about safety first, it's not complicated at all. If we're talking about hosting a major event and making it financially feasible and seeing this event happen at all, it's complicated."