‘Fifa should consider playing World Cup final at 9am’

Extreme weather during the Club World Cup in the United States this summer means Fifa should think about playing the men’s World Cup final at 9am next year, according to an expert.

BBC Sport asked Professor Mike Tipton of Portsmouth University, a leading expert on the effects of extreme temperature on people’s bodies, how the governing body of football should respond to a heatwave at the next year’s competition.

Like many, Tipton has been struck by the brutal conditions that players have been exposed to in some matches at the Club World Cup in the US, and which have underlined the potential threat facing Fifa’s 2026 showpiece when it returns to the same country at the same time of year.

Eastern North America experienced its first major heatwave last week, which left dozens of people hospitalized with heat-related illnesses. In New York on 24 June, for instance, the temperature rocketed to 39C – a record for June.

Eight World Cup matches, including the final itself, will be played at the MetLife Stadium located just outside of the city. Like most of the other venues across the US, Canada and Mexico, it has no roof and there is limited shade for those inside.

With all-important European audiences and the needs of broadcasters, advertisers, and sponsors in mind, kick-off times for all fixtures will only be revealed after December’s draw, but insiders told BBC Sport that they anticipate matches in the eastern time zone to start at noon, 15:00, 18:00, and 21:00 local time.

Tipton – who works with Team GB athletes including triathlete Jonny Brownlee since his collapse from heat exhaustion in Mexico in 2016 – argues that if there is a repeat of the conditions seen over the past 10 days, rescheduling to a morning slot would be the best and safest solution, even for the World Cup final.

He said, “I’d move it to an air-conditioned stadium with a roof, and ideally to a cooler time of year.”

“But we’re already stuck with this, so the only thing you can do is go to a cooler time of day. I’d be looking to start games as soon as possible from a thermal-physiological standpoint, he said, acknowledging the difficulty of getting tens of thousands of fans inside a stadium so early in the day for both health and performance reasons.

“The health risks are not purely to the players, it’s also the officials and spectators, many of whom are much, much less fit. Organisers are assuming a lot of responsibility if you continue in circumstances where all the rational scientific evidence says “stop.” What would probably happen is the game would be changed radically.

While such suggestions may seem far-fetched to some, a more flexible approach is something global players ‘ union Fifpro is now calling for after what it calls the” wake-up call “of the Club World Cup.

Dr. Vincent Gouttebarge, the organization’s medical director, stated that extended 20-minute half-time breaks should be taken into account to keep players’ core temperatures within their normal range on Monday at a press conference.

Alexander Bielefeld, Fifpro’s director of policy, claimed the weather was of” increasing concern”, and that while postponing matches for heat was” slightly trickier “than in a domestic league” we clearly believe that from a health and safety perspective this is something that must take priority over commercial interests. “

The Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), a temperature- and humidity-related measure of heat stress, is currently used in FIFA guidelines. If the WBGT exceeds 32C, short ‘ cooling breaks ‘ are mandatory in both halves of a match.

Fifpro, in contrast, thinks breaks should be made once the WBGT exceeds 28C and that matches that exceed 32C should be postponed. On this basis, so far at the Club World Cup both PSG v Atletico Madrid in Pasadena and Chelsea v ES Tunis in Philadelphia” should have been postponed to a better place in the day and, if not available (another slot), then rescheduled”.

According to Fifa general secretary Alex Phillips, “We are partially happy because Fifa have been quite responsive once the tournament was underway]and have actually changed how they’ve been dealing with heat during matches.”

” Obviously it would have been better if that had happened in advance, but they’ve put in place measures such as additional water and towels around the pitch.

There is a question at some point about what the industry views as a precautionary threshold for both players and spectators, which could potentially delaying kick-off later. You can apply so many pragmatic measures, such as shading, hydration, cooling, etc. That is probably going to be sufficient at some point. And that’s a discussion which we need to have, even though this is a difficult conversation based on commercial interests”.

Researchers from Queen’s University Belfast warned earlier this year that Miami and Monterrey pose the greatest risk because they do not have air-conditioned stadiums, with temperatures exceeding potentially dangerous levels at 14 of the 16 stadiums used for the 2026 World Cup.

While Dallas and Houston do have cooling systems, it said there was still a risk to spectators if games were played in the afternoon. Additionally, the report recommended that Kansas City, Boston, and Philadelphia be avoided after afternoon games in New York.

Fifpro says any afternoon kick-offs at six venues, Kansas City, Miami, Monterrey, Houston, Dallas and Atlanta carry an “extremely high-risk” of a “heat-stress injury”. San Francisco and Vancouver are the only cities with “low-risk” status.

When asked if Fifpro will make recommendations to Fifa before the World Cup when it comes to kick-off times at certain venues, Phillips said, “We have absolutely no power to force them to, we can only use informal pressure.

We’ll use arguments that are reasonable. We can use the MLS]Major League Soccer] protocols. For instance, they haven’t played games at midday in Florida in years. So those kind of arguments are strong. “

Playing in high temperatures in the US has been for some time.

In 2017, England forward Rachel Daly was treated for heat exhaustion in hospital after collapsing during a match in Houston, while playing in the National Women’s Soccer League. Additionally, after collapsing on the field during last year’s Copa America, Guatemalan assistant referee Humberto Panjoj was forced to be removed from a game in Kansas City.

But the heat seems to have been a constant theme throughout the Club World Cup. Enzo Maresca, Chelsea manager, stated last week that it was “impossible” to hold regular training sessions in Philadelphia, where 37C felt roasting 45C.

Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund’s substitutes watched the first half of their match against Mamelodi Sundowns in Cincinnati from the dressing room, with manager Niko Kovac likening conditions to” a sauna”.

Former Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Packie Bonner, who played in a 1994 game against Mexico in Orlando that is still remembered for the intense 41C heat his team had to endure, is another player who has gone through similar circumstances.

” It was unbelievable, “he told BBC Sport”. We couldn’t handle it at all because the kickoff was at noon. We were a high-pressing team and we couldn’t do that. However, it affected your way of thinking. Your brain goes into a fog. “

According to Bonner, the weather will be “perverse from a heat standpoint” next year.

But he added that, unlike back then when Fifa only allowed water to be given to players on the touchline, they are now allowed to drink on the pitch.

So just how hot is next year’s tournament across US, Canada and Mexico likely to be?

The hottest [so far] was USA in 1994, according to senior BBC weather forecaster Simon King, who was there at the time when the temperatures in Florida and Texas exceeded 38C.

” The Qatar 2022 World Cup was moved from summer, where temperatures regularly reached 40-45C, to the cooler winter. This most recent US heatwave had temperatures in the mid- to upper 30s, but in some places, like New York, the “heat index” (what it feels like when you consider humidity) would have seemed to be more than 50C outside.

“Scientists are very clear that as our climate changes, extreme heat such as this are likely to become more frequent in the future. Additionally, heatwaves might be stronger.

” In June 2023, an extreme heatwave was seen in Texas, Florida and Mexico for weeks. The heat index in Monterrey, Mexico, was close to 50 degrees, while that in Miami was as high as 44 degrees.

“While it is impossible to say a year ahead whether host cities like those will experience heatwave conditions, climate change has loaded the dice to an increasing chance of this happening. And if it does, it could possibly be the hottest World Cup ever.

In a statement, Fifa said its” top priority “is the health of everyone involved in football, and that its medical experts have advised Club World Cup teams on heat management and acclimatisation.

The “sound” and “preventative concept” includes the right to use five substitutions and an additional sub when a game moves into extra time in the 30th and 75th minutes.

Additionally, as at next year’s World Cup, all teams have a minimum of three rest days between matches to facilitate recovery.

Fans are encouraged to bring empty, transparent, one-liter plastic bottles with them to the stadiums, and local authorities may use stadium announcements, cooling buses, and water stations to remind them of the importance of hydration. Beat the heat tips ‘ will be shared with all ticket holders, “the statement added.

Some environmental activists believe that Fifa is actually causing the climate change that may be affecting its tournaments because it has been criticized for its growing ties to the fossil-fuel industry and for its decision to expand the 2026 World Cup to an unprecedented 48 teams.

The governing body has pledged to reduce its carbon emissions by 50% by 2030, and to achieve net zero emissions by 2040.

It is not just the heat that could pose a threat to next year’s tournament.

Maresca claimed on Sunday that the decision to postpone his team’s final-16 Club World Cup game against Benfica in Charlotte for two hours due to the extreme weather was “a joke” and that the US is “probably not the right place” to host a major tournament.

It was the sixth match of the competition suspended because of seasonal summer thunderstorms, in line with US safety regulations, and has obviously added to fears of similar disruption at next year’s World Cup – with all the ramifications that could mean for players, fans and broadcasters.

Although the US National Weather Service claims this is due to advancements in forecasting technology and standardised safety regulations over the past 20 years, others believe the weather may also be changing. Back in 1994, no matches at the World Cup were delayed by storm warnings.

” Climate change will also bring more extreme weather like thunderstorms as warmer air holds more moisture and energy for more frequent thunderstorms, “said King”. According to research, lightning increases by 12% for every 1C of global warming.

Whatever the reason, while such delays are rare in Europe, the chances of suspensions at World Cup matches next year appear considerable.

Storm delays of up to two hours have been observed in MLS games between Dallas and San Jose, Colorado and Los Angeles, and Columbus and Philadelphia once more this week alone.

Fifa may draw comfort from the fact that only one of the six match suspensions at the Club World Cup – at the MetLife outside New York – took place in a city staging World Cup games.

The Concacaf Gold Cup, which has also been taking place in the US for the past few weeks, has not experienced any weather delays to date. But perhaps significantly, seven of the host stadiums are covered.