{"id":917650,"date":"2026-07-05T10:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T15:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/05\/hydration-breaks-at-2026-world-cup-raise-controversy-for-fifa\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T10:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T15:12:13","slug":"hydration-breaks-at-2026-world-cup-raise-controversy-for-fifa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/05\/hydration-breaks-at-2026-world-cup-raise-controversy-for-fifa\/","title":{"rendered":"Hydration Breaks At 2026 World Cup Raise Controversy For FIFA"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\"France<\/picture><\/div>\n
\n

France’s head coach, Didier Deschamps, speaks with his players during the hydration break during a FIFA World Cup 2026 Group I match between France and Iraq at Philadelphia Stadium. (Photo by Dan Mullan\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/small><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

You could call this a heat of the moment decision by FIFA\u2014mandating for the first time these three-minute hydration breaks that you are now seeing during each half of the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches. After all, if you haven\u2019t noticed yet, a lot of the U.S. is currently under a \u201cheat dome.\u201d But many fans have been booing the hydration breaks and wondering whether there are \u201cad\u201d-ditional motivations behind stopping the matches 22 minutes into each half for such breaks. They\u2019ve been contending that such water breaks have been interrupting the flow of the matches. <\/p>\n

\n

What Is FIFA\u2019s Explanation For The Hydration Breaks<\/h2>\n

Well, a December 2025 announcement<\/a> by FIFA introducing this new hydration break policy did insist that it was all for the players\u2019 health. It said, \u201cPlayers at the FIFA World Cup 2026 will benefit from three-minute hydration breaks in each half of games as FIFA prioritises player welfare throughout next summer\u2019s tournament co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.\u201d The announcement also stated that referees would stop the games for these breaks regardless of what the weather and temperature was like and even when games were being played under roofs. \u201cto ensure equal conditions for all teams, in all matches.\u201d In other words, even if a game were played under a real dome\u2014like indoors\u2014rather than a heat dome, hydration breaks would still occur. <\/p>\n

This is the very first World Cup to officially have such a policy. Prior to this currently World Cup, referees in other major football competitions\u2014or soccer competitions as they\u2019re called in the U.S.\u2014have here and there instituted drink breaks at their discretion when matches have gotten too hot. That\u2019s \u201ctoo hot\u201d in a temperature sense and not a look-at-all-those-muscles way. This seemed to become more of a hot button issue during last Summer\u2019s FIFA Club World Cup in the United States, where some matches had to deal with extreme heat. The FIFA announcement did emphasize, \u201cThe use of hydration breaks is part of a focused attempt to ensure the best possible conditions for players, drawing upon the experiences of previous tournaments, including the recent FIFA Club World Cup, which took place in the United States last summer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

\n

There Is Justification For Hydration Breaks During The Current Heat Wave<\/h2>\n

Now, few people will argue that drinking water and getting some rest when it\u2019s really hot outside are bad things. You won\u2019t hear too many doctors say, \u201cWhatever you do, don\u2019t drink water,\u201d unless it\u2019s something questionable like raw water<\/a>. And I have written in Forbes<\/em> before<\/a> about how staying properly hydrated is important in maintaining all of your bodily functions. I also wrote about how the color of your urine can give a sense of your hydration status, assuming that you kidneys are working properly. When you are drinking enough water, your urine typically remains a very pale yellow color or even clearer. Darker colors, though, could be a sign that \u201curine\u201d some trouble when it comes to not getting enough water. <\/p>\n

Moreover, if you haven\u2019t yet noticed, it\u2019s getting freaking hot out there in many parts of the country, including those cities like New York City, Philadelphia, Houston and Atlanta that are hosting matches in the knock-out stage of the World Cup. Much of the central and eastern United States is now under what\u2019s called a \u201cheat dome.\u201d <\/p>\n

Such a dome happens when a layer of warm air forms in the atmosphere and becomes like a lid on a pot of boiling water. This layer traps under it hot air close to the ground and causes the air pressure within the resulting dome to rise. At the same time, this high pressure system prevents cooler air from moving into the dome, leading to a heat wave that can last for days. Such a dome can raise the risk of heat-related problems like heat exhaustion and heat stroke.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

\n

Football Fans Are Concerned That The Hydration Breaks Are Changing The Flows Of The Games<\/h2>\n

The argument against such hydration breaks is kind of a drawn and quartered one. Football fans have been arguing that the breaks essentially are turning the traditional two halves of a match into four quarters instead. This certainly can change the flow and nature of the games. Some players and coaches have argued against such breaks as well. For example, U.S. Men\u2019s National Team coach Mauricio Pochettino has said about the breaks, \u201cI don\u2019t like it. I only like it when the conditions are extreme, but when the conditions are good, it is unnecessary,\u201d as you can see here:<\/p>\n

There have also been questions about whether player health is really the primary motivation behind these hydration breaks. A bunch of people on social media have \u201cad-ded\u201d what they though is going on like the following \u201cX\u201d to this policy, calling them \u201creally just commercial timeouts,\u201d as you can see here:<\/p>\n

Then there was this X, \u201cInterrupting a live match under the guise of a hydration break just to force commercial ads down out throats is an absolute disgrace,\u201d posted during the group stage:<\/p>\n

Of course, it is difficult to tell for sure what the main driver behind these hydration breaks have been. It would be useful to know whether and how statistics on heat-related incidents among players might have factored into the decision. After all, this isn\u2019t the first World Cup to be held in warm or hot weather locations. <\/p>\n

Plus, there are other things that can be done to help players cope with the heat. For example, the 2022 World Cup took place in Qatar, which sports Summer temperatures that often exceed 40\u00b0C or 104\u00b0F. Therefore, FIFA decided to shift that World Cup from the traditional June through July slot to a later-in-the-year-when-it-is-cooler November through December time frame. <\/p>\n

Time will tell whether the controversy surro all becomes water under <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Bruce Y. Lee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

France’s head coach, Didier Deschamps, speaks with his players during the hydration break during a FIFA World Cup 2026 Group I match between France and Iraq at Philadelphia Stadium. (Photo by Dan Mullan\/Getty Images) Getty Images You could call this a heat of the moment decision by FIFA\u2014mandating for the first time these three-minute hydration<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":917651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2000,108288],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-917650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaks","category-hydration"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=917650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/917651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=917650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=917650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=917650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}