As temperatures approached 32 degrees at TQL stadium in Cincinnati last Saturday for a Borussia Dortmund German World Cup football team posted on social networks: “Our reservations watched the first half from the locker room to avoid the scorching sun – we have never seen it before, but with that heat, it makes perfect sense.”
The message was accompanied by a photo of the players who would normally be on the bench, sitting from shorts and t -shirts around a table with drinks.
Players, technicians, and fans were already concerned about the high temperatures in the first week’s World Cup matches, and now a heat wave in the United States is further elevating temperatures.
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“The match was clearly influenced by temperature,” said Luis Enrique, coach of European champion Paris Saint-Germain, after the opening game against Atletico Madrid in Los Angeles, who began at noon at the local time. “The time is great for the European public, but the teams are suffering.”
This week, parts of the country should be even warmer, including places where football games are happening. Eight of the 11 host cities are on the east coast.
The time of matches in this tournament is a concern, with 35 of the 63 games starting before 5 pm local time, and 15 of them starting at noon. Only two of these games at noon are being held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, which is the only participating stadium with coverage.
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Test for the 2026 World Cup
This tournament is a kind of test before the 2026 World Cup, which will be played simultaneously in the United States, Canada and Mexico at the same time of year. FIFA’s approach to protect players and fans under these conditions should be more attention.
“It’s hard, but we have to get used to it because the tournament is here, and next year the World Cup will be here too,” said Aurelien Tchouameni, France and Real Madrid midfielder.
Players and technicians have used cold and ice towels, applying them to the back of the neck or on the heads during the breaks.
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Adaptations
At the Real Madrid training base in Miami, the club installed heated tents among the temporary structures to simulate the conditions that players would face. Temperatures within tents can range from 35 to 50 degrees Celsius, and humidity rises from about 30% to 80% at the end of the session.
Times like Manchester City and Juventus have used training to accelerate heat adaptation, with City of City, Pep Guardiola, conducting long training sessions in Florida’s intense heat, on the base of the team in Boca Raton. Last Friday’s session lasted almost two hours with temperatures above 32 degrees.
Phil Foden, City Midfielder, said after the opening match (starting at noon, Philadelphia) that he and his companions tried to play more with possession to deal with the conditions.
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Juventus has adjusted their training hours to coincide with the starting times of the games, with defender Lloyd Kelly telling the press after the opening game that the team trained “in the last 10 days at the hottest times of the day.”
The match against Al Ain began at 9 pm last Wednesday, but despite the later time, the conditions in Washington were still hot and damp, so much so that after the game, American striker Timothy Weah said to reporters: “I just played a while, and it seemed that I was dying outside. It was really hot.”
Fans also suffer
Fans who watch games have also suffered from heat. The biggest problems occur in open stadiums, where there is little or no shadow for viewers.
In the Palmeiras game against Al Ahly on Thursday, which began at noon at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey, fans changed places to try to stay in shaded areas and, in the interval, filled the interior of the stadium in search of shelter and access to water.
Brazilians are not strange to intense heat, but the palm fans who traveled did not like the time early for the game, with a fan saying to The Athletic: “In Brazil, our championship games don’t start before 4 pm or 5 pm. This is not a good time.”
Egyptian club fans al Ahly expressed similar feeling. Many took children to the game and spent part of the match looking for air conditioning areas to escape the heat.
The only reference to extreme weather conditions in the FIFA regulation for the tournament is the use of cooling breaks. These breaks are implemented around the 30 and 75 minutes when a measure that considers heat, moisture, wind and sunlight exceeds 32 degrees in the field. The breaks allow players to hydrate and use cooling measurements such as ice towels, and can last from 90 seconds to three minutes.
FIFA has stated that its medical experts “are in regular contact with clubs to address heat management.” He also said he was working with local medical authorities.
The US National Meteorology Service is collaborating with FIFA to develop plans for the 11 American cities that will host World Cup games next year. One advantage is that some places not used this summer, such as AT&T Stadium in Dallas and NRG Stadium in Houston, are covered stadiums.
This article was originally published in The New York Times.
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