The hydration stops in the middle of the two stages of the matches at the 2026 World Cup did not please everyone involved in the competition. Coaches such as Marcelo Bielsa, from Uruguay, and Thomas Tuchel, from England, have already spoken out against it. Players like Frenchman Mbappé have expressed doubts about this. And fans even booed.
Although FIFA president Gianni Infantino said that the news will be discussed by the entity, he defended the pauses and stated that they can even be used in the next World Cups.
In an interview with British broadcaster SNTV, the president praised the players’ intensity in all matches and credited the pauses for giving them extra energy on the field.
“Until the last second of the match the players attack, and so on. Maybe not, but maybe it’s also a little thanks to that little break that the players have and then they can return to the field and show what they can do. We’ve never seen 90 minutes in a tournament like this played with such intensity,” he said.
“Maybe the coach can reevaluate certain situations, correct certain mistakes. The players rest a little and come back full steam ahead. Well, is that necessarily bad? Maybe it’s good,” he asked.
Regarding comments that some matches would not need stops, due to the milder temperature, Infantino highlighted that everyone needs to follow the rule so as not to favor some over others.
“If we only used hydration breaks in matches where it was very hot and not in others, we would be giving an advantage or disadvantage to some coaches or some teams,” he said.
“Why would the coach have the opportunity to influence the game in one match just because it’s hot and in another match, where it’s a little less hot, he wouldn’t have that opportunity?”
Another point against pauses pointed out by critics is that the three minutes are most often used for broadcasters to broadcast advertisements, instead of showing what coaches say to their players. This is a common practice in sports broadcasting in the United States.
At this point, Infantino insisted that FIFA is not making extra money for this because the contracts were signed before the decision to introduce hydration breaks was made.
One of the biggest critics, coach Marcelo Bielsa stated that “playing four times instead of two changes the conception of what had been culturally constructed to interpret football”.
“This change in culture adds nothing and takes away a lot. I’ll just say that before this decision, football had one characteristic, now it has another.”
Mbappé admitted that players probably only care about breaks depending on how the game is going. “Sometimes, if I think my team is dominating, it can break our rhythm; sometimes, if it’s hot, I’m happy,” said the French striker, scorer of 16 World Cup goals.
“If tomorrow we are being dominated after 25 minutes, I will be happy if there is a break, [mas] If we’re dominating after 25 minutes, I’ll be frustrated if there’s a break.”
