World Cup
Volatile summer weather threatens to turn World Cup into test of heat
The World Cup will kick off on Thursday under familiar North American summer threats: extreme heat, suffocating humidity and thunderstorms capable of delaying matches with little warning.
Seasonal forecasts indicate above-normal temperatures across large parts of the United States, while moisture flowing north from the Gulf of Mexico could fuel thunderstorms and severe weather during the opening weeks of the tournament.
While conditions for individual matches cannot be predicted this far ahead, sports scientists say there are clear weather-related risks facing a summer World Cup spanning Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The key measure is not air temperature alone but wet-bulb globe temperature, which incorporates heat, humidity, sunlight and wind to estimate heat stress on the body.
World Weather Attribution has warned that roughly a quarter of matches could be played in conditions that exceed recommended safety limits.
INTERNAL HEAT CHALLENGE
Chris Minson, a physiology professor and co-director of the Exercise and Environmental Physiology Labs at the University of Oregon, said elite players generate enormous internal heat even before the weather is considered.
“Seventy-five percent of all the energy that we utilise during exercise gets converted to heat,” Minson told Reuters. “Only about 25% goes to actually doing the exercise.”
In hot, sunny or humid conditions, the body’s normal cooling system begins to struggle. Humidity is a particular concern, since sweat cools the body only when it evaporates.
“One of the hardest things for us is when the humidity is very high,” Minson said.
High-humidity World Cup venues include Houston, Miami, Dallas and Monterrey.
CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT ON PERFORMANCE
Climate change has increased the likelihood of temperatures high enough to affect player performance at 97 of the 104 tournament matches, according to new research from Climate Central.
The biggest such increase is projected for the June 26 group-stage match between Uruguay and Spain in Guadalajara, where researchers estimated a 70% chance of performance-impairing heat – 37 percentage points higher than it would have been without climate change.
Ryan Calsbeek, a biological sciences professor at Dartmouth College who studies how body type affects athletic performance in different climates, said heat and humidity could influence not only player welfare but the pace and style of matches.
“Higher temperature, higher humidity is likely to slow games down,” he said. “When athletes have to perform for a very long time, they’re just not going to be able to balance the explosive power of their fast-twitch efforts with the more aerobic long-term efforts of a 90-plus minute game in the heat and humidity.”
Nearly half of all matches face at least a 50% chance of temperatures exceeding 28 degrees Celsius (82.4 degrees Fahrenheit) — a threshold linked to declines in sprinting, distance covered and recovery time.
Calsbeek said Mexico City’s altitude – some 2,240 meters (7,350 ft) above sea level – could also prove significant, particularly for those arriving from lower elevations without time to acclimatise. The city is set to host five matches.
FIFA has said every match at the World Cup will include a three-minute hydration break in each half, while scheduling decisions took into account factors including average temperatures, travel, rest days, medical planning and cooling infrastructure.
SAFETY PROTOCOLS QUESTIONED
Several venues feature retractable roofs or climate-control systems, and tournament regulations allow matches to be delayed, suspended, rescheduled or relocated for health, safety or security reasons, including severe weather.
Minson said FIFA should mandate interventions when the wet-bulb globe temperature reaches 26C and should consider postponing matches around 28C to 30C.
Minson also called for six-minute cooling breaks, shaded cooling areas, emergency ice baths and longer half-times when conditions warranted.
“If you have a player who seems to be having some delirium or not thinking straight, or collapses on the field, you need to cool them down immediately,” he said.
For FIFA, the tournament is a logistical showpiece. For players, coaches and scientists, it may also be a test of how football adapts to a hotter future.
-Reuters
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Iran threatened to halt its matches at the World Cup if unauthorised flags are displayed or slogans targeting the national team are chanted at stadiums, Iranian media reported, citing Sports Minister Ahmad Donyamali, following criticism of the team’s presence at the tournament.
The World Cup begins on Thursday, with Iran opening their Group G campaign against New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15. They next face Belgium at the same venue on June 21 before taking on Egypt in Seattle on June 26.
“We have informed FIFA that if unofficial flags are brought or slogans against the national team are chanted in the stadiums where Iran plays in the World Cup, the team manager will definitely be responsible for stopping the match,” Donyamali said on Tuesday, according to Iranian media.
“We have been assured that no disruptive incidents will occur in the stadium during the match against Egypt.”
Iran and Egypt’s football associations had previously urged FIFA to prevent any LGBTQ+ Pride-related activities during the Seattle match. The fixture had been designated by local organisers as a “Pride Match” to coincide with Seattle’s Pride weekend.
In April, protesters gathered outside the FIFA Congress in Vancouver and called for Iran to be banned from the tournament, saying the team represents the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps rather than the Iranian people.
The Iranian team has also faced organisational challenges, with Iran’s football federation saying its ticket allocation was withdrawn days before the tournament, leaving supporters who had already made travel plans unable to attend their team’s matches.
The team, currently training in Tijuana, Mexico, will be able to enter the U.S. the day before each match, the Department of Homeland Security said, amid a conflict that has added a geopolitical dimension to the tournament.
-Reuters
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Dozens of Argentines who were denied visas to travel to the United States to see the World Cup will at least have a new free television channel to watch the games.
Argentine conglomerate Newsan promised to give out local brand Noblex televisions to the first 100 people who lined up on Wednesday outside its Buenos Aires office with paperwork in hand showing they had been denied a visa between January and June of this year to visit the United States.
“Give us your denied visa and take a free TV,” an advertisement on Instagram said.
One of the lucky winners was Tomas Vageller, a 24-year-old professional videogame player.
“I went to get a visa because we all think it will be Messi’s last World Cup,” he said. “It’s very sad I won’t be able to see it, but well, I’m leaving with a gift.”
People line up to show their U.S. visa denials to receive free television sets during a promotion by television manufacturer Noblex for people unable to travel to the World Cup due to visa rejections, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 10, 2026. REUTERS/ Tomas Cuesta
In three-time World Cup winner Argentina, soccer fever has been unusually tempered days before the 2026 World Cup kicks off in North America – much less feverish than in 2022, which many saw as Argentina’s last hope to win the tournament under Lionel Messi’s leadership.
–-Reuters
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Somali soccer referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan returned home to a hero’s welcome on Wednesday after being barred from entering the U.S. for the World Cup, describing the decision as a matter of “fate” and urging his fellow Somalis not to lose heart over it.
Artan, Africa’s referee of the year in 2025, had been set to become the first Somali to officiate at soccer’s global showpiece, but was turned back by U.S. Customs and Border Protection over the weekend.
The Trump administration said on Tuesday the U.S. had denied Artan entry for the World Cup because of his links to “suspected members of terror organizations”.
“What happened has happened and it was fate. I am grateful for the support FIFA gave me,” Artan told reporters after arriving in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.
“Somalia is ours, whether things are good or bad. I want to tell our youth not to lose hope in our country,” he said. “I am now in my country, and there is no other place I want to be.”
‘WE REALLY FELT HIS PAIN’
Later on Wednesday, thousands of cheering supporters, some carrying flags and photos of Artan, poured into a stadium in Mogadishu, where he was the guest of honour at a game.
Many said they were bitterly disappointed by the U.S. decision but said Artan’s stature was undiminished in their eyes.
“As young people, we really felt his pain. We all also have dreams. He made such a huge effort to reach the stage he reached and was eventually let down,” student Abdulqadir Ali Abokor, 26, told Reuters.
“For us and for many around the world, he is… a champion, and this decision doesn’t make a difference,” he added.
“We are here to show him that we stand with him,” fitness instructor and former referee Abdi Abdulle Baasaale, 54, said.
Somalia’s Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre, who met Artan on Wednesday, said he had “won the hearts of millions and secured his place in history”.
“Omar Artan has done more than unite the footballing world; he has ignited hope in every child who dares to dream beyond the horizon. Dreams may be deferred, but they are never defeated,” Barre said in a post on X.
DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT
Artan’s ordeal has drawn global attention, with the head of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, expressing solidarity with him.
“You reached the summit of your profession and inspired a generation back home just by getting there, and being kept off the pitch you earned doesn’t change that. This won’t be the end of your story on the world stage,” Tedros, the first African to head the WHO, said in a post on X late on Tuesday.
The Trump administration’s strict immigration policies have been a point of concern, opening a new tab before the World Cup, with Washington imposing a sweeping travel ban last year on citizens of 12 countries, including Somalia.
Somali government officials and an official from the Somali Football Federation told Reuters that Artan had been issued a diplomatic passport.
“Artan was travelling on a diplomatic passport which we issued for the World Cup to ensure he didn’t face any obstacles,” a Somali diplomat at the embassy in Nairobi said.
A U.S. official said that Artan did not try to enter the U.S. on a diplomatic passport, without addressing whether he had one.
Somalia’s foreign ministry expressed “deep regret” over the U.S. decision in a statement issued on Wednesday. It said the Somali government had made unsuccessful diplomatic efforts to enable Artan’s travel.
A FIFA spokesperson said Artan would now not be able to train or officiate at the tournament, which is being held in the U.S., Mexico and Canada and starts on Thursday.
Without identifying Artan, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said a Somali national arrived at Miami International Airport from Istanbul on Saturday and was deemed inadmissible because of vetting concerns.
An administration official later said CBP officials had determined that Artan was a threat to national security.
It was not clear which game or games Artan would have refereed, although such information is typically only announced two to three days in advance.
-Reuters
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