Rising temperatures at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 of this year have expressed their concern during the afternoon kicked off at the World Cup 2026, because the extensive tournament is logistical challenges for organizers.
A heat wave in the United States saw Borussia Dortmund players opposite South Korea’s Ulsan in Cincinnati on Wednesday, with temperatures of more than 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 ° C) with the kick -off at 3 p.m. local time.
Players benefited from the FIFAs once every half cool bone councils this week, while Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca told reporters that it was ‘impossible’ to regularly organize training sessions in the afternoon in the swing of Philadelphia.
The trade union of the global players FIFPRO said that the conditions «should serve as a wake-up call».
«Because climate change makes extreme weather conditions, including dangerous heat, an increasingly urgent problem for everyone in the football industry, the risk of kick -off at very high temperatures is real and growing,» a FIFPRO spokesperson told Reuters.
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FIFPRO insisted on global football organs to re -evaluate kick -off times to better tackle the heat conditions, while organizers such as FIFA prices for their flexibility when adding cooling breaks to games.
«We believe that there is much more to be done to prioritize the health and safety of players,» said FIFPRO.
«The current protocols and laws of the game require urgent revision – this is a challenge that the entire football industry must enter into together.»
FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Match times for the World Cup 2026, co-organized by the United States, Mexico and Canada, still have to be announced, but organizers can get challenges if the blistering circumstances return.
Heating issues would not be a surprise for those who were at the tournament in 1994, the last time the United States played host.
«The cacophony of complaints echoing over the country could survive the cheers in the nine stadiums where they present the four -year event of international football,» wrote the Los Angeles Times in that tournament for a week because high temperatures had steamed fans.
More than 90,000 fans stepped up to watch the final in Pasadena, where the temperature reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 ° C). It was the last time that a World Cup final was completely played in daylight.
It is complicated
With the tournament that expands from 32 to 48 teams, afternoon kick -offs can be inevitable to meet the planning requirements and to meet lucrative European broadcast markets.
«The large broadcasters invest a lot of money, so they are not super interested in the schedule to change to accommodate warmth if it means that they will not earn as much advertising income,» said Madeleine Orr, an author and sport economist.
Host cities at the highest heat risks in 2026 – including Miami, Monterrey, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Boston and New York – should occur in the most popular afternoon hours, said ORR in a study she had co -author earlier this year.
ORR said that pushing more afternoon matches to one of the four indoor locations of the tournament in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Vancouver is part of the solution.
«You need your broadcasters to be happy,» said Orr.
«If we first talk about safety, it is not at all complicated. If we are talking about organizing a large event and making it financially feasible and seeing this event happen at all, it is complicated.»
