The World Cup problem that could disrupt all of sports
Less than a month out from the first whistle, we’ve got a better idea of the heat risks at the various venues.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Much of the focus has been on how the temperatures could affect the footballers, but the event is a reminder that the ones in real peril are the fans.
PHOTO: AFP
Lara Williams
After 2025’s dangerously hot and humid FIFA Club World Cup in the US, attention has turned to how soccer’s governing body might handle extreme heat during its largest-ever tournament: the 2026 FIFA World Cup, set to kick off on June 11. Much of the focus has been on how the temperatures could affect the footballers, but the event is a reminder that the ones in real peril are the fans – and the players of the future.
Less than a month out from the first whistle, we’ve got a better idea of the heat risks faced at each of the tournament’s 16 venues across the US, Canada and Mexico. A quarter of the matches are likely to be played when conditions exceed a wet-bulb globe temperature (a measure of how effectively the body can cool itself) of 26 deg C, a level considered dangerous and requiring numerous cooling breaks, according to an analysis by World Weather Attribution, an international scientific collaboration that evaluates the possible influence of climate change on extreme weather events. About five matches are expected to occur at a wet-bulb temperature of 28 deg C, a threshold at which the American College of Sports Medicine suggests cancellation or postponement. In a press briefing, one of the researchers involved in the study described these figures as “conservative”, meaning the reality could be a lot worse.
