Too hot to handle? Searing heat looming over 2026 World Cup
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The SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Soaring temperatures across the US, Mexico and Canada pose safety issues for players and fans.
PHOTO: AFP
LOS ANGELES – With less than six months to go before the 2026 World Cup kicks off, organisers are bracing for what could be their most challenging opponent yet – extreme heat.
Soaring temperatures across the United States, Mexico and Canada pose safety issues for players and fans and a host of logistical issues that remain far from settled.
In the depths of the US$5.5 billion (S$7.06 billion) SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, which will host eight matches, around 15 industrial misting fans more than two metres tall sit in storage, waiting to be deployed.
If temperatures climb above 26.7 deg C, the fans will be rolled out around the stadium.
A roof suspended some 45 metres above the pitch offers shade for spectators, while large openings along the sides allow breezes from the nearby Pacific Ocean to provide natural cooling.
“Knowing that you can put 70,000 people into a building – the energy, the excitement, the activity that comes with that, and the higher temperature – that’s where we want to make sure we respond,” said Otto Benedict, vice-president of operations for the company that manages the stadium.
Not all the World Cup’s 16 stadiums are as modern.
Southern California is not considered to be among the highest-risk areas for a summer competition scheduled from June 11 to July 19.
A study published in the International Journal of Biometeorology in January warned of “serious concern” for the health of players and match officials at the 2026 World Cup due to extreme heat.
The study identified six “high-risk” host cities – Monterrey, Miami, Kansas City, Boston, New York and Philadelphia.
The issue of heat featured prominently at this year’s FIFA Club World Cup
FIFA has responded by mandating three-minute cooling breaks in the 22nd and 67th minutes of all matches at the World Cup, regardless of conditions.
The World Cup match schedule released after December’s draw in Washington shows daytime games largely assigned to air-conditioned stadiums in Dallas, Houston and Atlanta, while higher-risk venues are set to host evening kick-offs.
“You can clearly see an effort to align the competition schedule planning and venue selection with the concerns around player health, but also player performance,” a spokesperson for the FIFPRO players union said.
“This is a clear outcome, which we welcome, and a lesson learnt from the Club World Cup.”
It says the biggest takeaway is that heat will play an increasingly central role in organising competitions on a warming planet.
The union believes though that several World Cup fixtures remain “high-risk” and recommends postponements when wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) readings – a gauge of heat stress in direct sunlight that takes into account factors such as temperature and humidity – exceed 28 deg C.
While teams work to mitigate effects of the conditions, some officials say the risks to spectators both inside stadiums and in fan zones have been underestimated.
“There is a risk and importantly, we feel like it’s an underappreciated risk,” said Chris Fuhrmann, deputy director of the south-east regional centre of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“When you’re cheering, you’re actually generating a lot of metabolic heat and your heart rate’s going up.
“Spectators obviously compared to professional athletes are generally not in as good physical health.
“They have a lot of comorbidities that increase the likelihood that they would have a negative health outcome or succumb to heat stress.”
Adequate air circulation, plenty of shaded areas and access to hydration are crucial, Fuhrmann said – though hydration is often undermined by alcohol consumption.
FIFA has yet to clarify whether fans are allowed to bring refillable water bottles into venues or whether water will be sold inside.
For US National Weather Service meteorologist Benjamin Schott, who has advised FIFA and its World Cup task force, the priority is prevention, particularly for foreign visitors unfamiliar with local climates.
One lesson from the Club World Cup, he said, is the need for multilingual messaging to ensure heat-safety warnings are clearly understood.
“The lesson learnt is just trying to maybe better educate fans as they come to the United States to have a better understanding of what the weather could be like during those two months,” Schott said. AFP
