The games will have a break per half.
FIFA has had “cooling breaks” for a while now to give players some time to hydrate when the temperature during a match is excesive. This started during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, when a Brazilian court ordered FIFA breaks near the 30th minute mark for the players to hydrate when temperatures reached 32 degrees Celsius (via ESPN).
Since then, certain leagues such as the MLS and Spanish LaLiga have adopted similar breaks, with each league using different parameters for the interruption of play.
Now, per a report from The Athletic’s Henry Bushnell, the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup will feature ‘three-minute hydration breaks’ in each half of every game:
In 2026, for the first time at a World Cup, they’ll pause no matter what, around 22 minutes into each half.
“There will be no weather or temperature condition in place, with the breaks being called by the referee in all games, to ensure equal conditions for all teams, in all matches,” FIFA said in a release posted online late Sunday night.
The report also mentions that the breaks have commercial implications, which can surely be translated as an opportunity for FIFA to sell pricey ad spots to increase the World Cup revenue — something which might not surprise anyone at this point.
Category: General Sports
