Commentary: Should FIFA do more to protect players from World Cup heat?

ST CATHARINES, Canada: The most-watched sporting event in the world kicks off on Jun 11 co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States. With 2026 already expected to be one of the hottest years on record, experts and players have warned that organiser FIFA is not doing enough to protect the players from extreme heat.

Our new research shows the heat stress players may face could negatively affect their performance and pose a threat to their health.

Many of the players representing their country at this year’s FIFA World Cup were on show at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, where the 32 best club teams from six continents faced each other.

Matches were played at the same spring-summer transition as this year’s tournament (June-July) and at several of the same venues that will be used. Therefore, this tournament served as a great case study to identify likely challenges and possible solutions.

We used FIFA’s own technical reports to identify player performance - low- to high-speed running and total distance covered per player - and publicly available data for environmental conditions (for example, air temperature and humidity, solar radiation and wind speed).

Of the 63 matches played, we analysed data from 57, ignoring the six matches played inside Atlanta Stadium due to the closed roof and air conditioning keeping it a comfortable 22°C.

The FIFA heat guidelines are used as default policy to protect player health. Like many sports organisations, FIFA uses the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) to calculate heat stress. This measure accounts for air temperature, radiant heat from sunshine, and the cooling effect of evaporation and air movement.

FIFA’s guidelines use a WBGT “near, at or above 32°C” to define an extreme risk of heat