Simon Stiell said New York weather should be read alongside the severe heat and humidity that shaped nine World Cup group stage matches, according to a Guardian analysis. He said more extreme heat is climate change caused by burning fossil fuels, and that it affects football.
The analysis covered the World Cup’s 72-game group stage, which ended on Saturday last week. It found nine matches in severe heat, with an additional 13 in cities where temperatures may have crossed the severe-heat level before air conditioning cooled the stadiums.
World Cup group stage heat
The matches were played amid wet bulb globe temperatures that may have been at or over 28C, the level Fifpro says should trigger delays or postponements. That puts a hard number on the condition players faced: once the threshold climbs above 28C, the union says scheduling decisions should change rather than rely on brief breaks alone.
The hottest game in a non-air-conditioned venue came on 21 June, when Uruguay’s 2-2 draw with Cape Verde at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium may have reached or exceeded 33C wet-bulb globe temperature. That surpassed the previous tournament high of 32.9C, set six days earlier during Uruguay drew 1-1 with Saudi Arabia.
Fifa heat protocol
Fifa says cooling breaks should be introduced and match delays or suspensions should be considered above 32C WBGT. This year’s tournament also introduced three-minute hydration breaks for every match, even as nine group stage games were still played in severe heat and humidity.
That leaves the same competition using both a universal break and a higher intervention threshold at the same time. For players and fans, the practical question is not whether heat exists, but how quickly scheduling and venue choices shift when WBGT reaches the levels Fifpro and Fifa both treat as operational limits.
2026 World Cup planning
Stiell’s warning points beyond this tournament. He said, “More extreme heat is not random, it’s climate change, caused by more than a century of burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas,” and added, “It affects the things we love, like football.”
Fifpro said heat will have to “play a bigger part” in future tournament and league scheduling decisions, and the 2026 World Cup is projected to be the hottest such tournament since the competition began in 1930. With record-breaking heat and humidity expected this week in the midwest and eastern US, the pressure on football’s heat rules is already moving from theory to planning.
