Will Climate Change Foul the World Cup?

The world’s most-watched sporting event is coming to North America this June, when billions will tune in across the globe to watch national soccer teams compete during the FIFA Men’s World Cup. This year, the matches will play out at 16 stadiums across the continent—11 of which are in the United States. American host cities are excited to welcome tens of thousands of fans, and the economic boost they bring, but they are also preparing for how to keep players and spectators safe during what is expected to be a hot summer for most of the country.

In fact, extreme heat is becoming such a serious issue for the sport that its effects are hard to ignore. The last international soccer (a.k.a. football) tournament the US hosted was in 2024, when teams across the Americas came to compete in the men’s Copa América. The event’s first match took place in the middle of a heat wave during what turned out to be the world’s hottest recorded summer. Unlike in other sports, the only built-in break allotted to soccer players is after 45 minutes, leaving players susceptible to dehydration and heat-related illnesses. In the 2024 tournament, a player from Uruguay left at halftime during a match against Panama due to dehydration symptoms, and an assistant referee fainted at a game in Kansas City where the temperature felt like 103°F.

These incidents, among others, have raised concerns about how extreme heat could affect the 2026 World Cup. Jon Gottschalk, the chief of the NOAA Climate Prediction Center’s Operational Prediction Branch, said that the weather models show a high level of confidence that the West, the Southeast, and the East Coast—regions hosting almost all the American matches—will experience a warmer-than-usual summer.

In anticipation of hot weather, FIFA—the organization in charge of the tournament—is building mandated water breaks into each match to keep players safe, which is rare for the World Cup. Meanwhile, American host cities have been preparing for how to facilitate public safety years before the tournament begins in June. Miami, for example, will host a free festival at a local park for fans to watch the matches, where there will be dedicated shade zones and drinking water to keep fans cool.

However, there’s another concern this summer—whether host cities’ public transportation and electrical grids can withstand a surge in visitors combined with above-average temperatures.

Straining the transportation system

Most host cities have begun preparing for how these high temperatures might affect their public transportation, which hundreds of thousands of fans will rely on. Mikhail Chester, a professor of civil engineering at Arizona State University, studies how infrastructure is vulnerable to heat. He explained that transportation systems, such as roads and rails, are built to withstand specific temperature thresholds.

“You're basically pushing everything to the limits of its design,” Chester said. “So you start to see those failures. You start to see buses that are broken down more frequently, power outages more frequently, and assets in infrastructure that break more frequently.”

Chester added that although one day of extreme heat likely won’t lead to the catastrophic failure of all roads and train tracks in a city, a series of them could create problems. He pointed out how extreme heat can impact public transportation through operator decision-making. According to his research, bus drivers are more likely to stay home from work during heat waves. Even the threat of a heat wave can impact schedules and staffing. Since train tracks are more likely to buckle under high temperatures, Chester said, conductors will often drive slower to keep an eye out for warped rails.

These factors could strain transportation systems across host cities, a possibility that has affected how most of them addressed potential issues. For example, Houston regularly sees summer temperatures above 90°F and will host seven matches throughout the World Cup. According to Anna Carpenter, director of communications for Houston’s transit system, the city has rehabilitated roadways and rail platforms to prepare for increased traffic during the matches. She also said that all buses and trains are equipped with air conditioning for both travelers and operators. Other host cities, including San Francisco and Boston, say they’re preparing their communication networks to alert riders about extreme heat events and providing guidance to staff on how to handle them.

Overloading the electrical grid

Along with straining public transit, extreme heat can make electrical grids less effective at distributing power across cities. As temperatures rise and people blast the air conditioning and plug in more fans, city grids can become less efficient and reliable, explained Eduard Muljadi, an electrical engineering professor at Auburn University.

In addition, power equipment such as generators and transformers are very sensitive to temperature because of their insulation. If generators pass their temperature threshold, they can suffer damages and failures. Muljadi said that even infrastructure as large as a power plant can be at risk during heat events. If there’s an extreme heat event during one of this year’s matches, nearby power companies may resort to rolling blackouts to balance powering the stadium without overloading the grid.

To prepare for this extra power strain, some host cities have been assessing their electrical infrastructure and making necessary improvements. Seattle’s public utility company, Seattle City Light, used the lessons it learned from hosting the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup and the 2023 Major League Baseball All-Star Game to identify areas that needed updated maintenance. For example, crews recently assessed areas around Lumen Field—where six of the World Cup matches will take place—and installed high-capacity wires “to boost energy flow, reduce outage risk, and extend equipment life,” according to communications director Julie Moore.

Engineers are trained to anticipate everything that could go wrong with a design and plan accordingly. When calculating temperature thresholds, they need to know average seasonal temperatures for a given area so they can create the right asphalt mixture and make sure the wires don’t break prematurely. But climate change is making these calculations more difficult by increasing the uncertainty of expected temperatures and creating more extreme conditions, explained Chester and Muljadi.

What does this mean for the future of soccer?

Climate change is also shaping the sport of soccer itself. Elliot Arthur-Worsop has been immersed in the sport since he was little, and he founded the nonprofit Football for Future in 2020 to combine his love for both soccer and the planet. The organization recently released a report predicting how climate change will affect the number of days considered safe for hosting matches.

“This will be the last men's World Cup of its kind in North America without significant climate adaptation,” Arthur-Worsop said.

The report looked at the 16 stadiums hosting this year’s men’s World Cup and found that without climate mitigation strategies by 2050, 14 of them are projected to have multiple days where it is too hot to safely hold matches.

Some clubs and teams are already at the forefront of climate advocacy to protect their sport. Across the pond, the Arsenal Football Club became the first Premier League club to sign up for the United Nations Sports for Climate Action Framework in 2020. Since then, it’s worked to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to reach net-zero emissions by 2040. Athletes aren’t the only ones who care about how climate change will affect their sport. The Football for Future report found that over 85 percent of North American soccer fans think the World Cup should serve as a global model for sports and sustainability. And 92 percent of those fans would support club and national team players speaking publicly about climate change.

“The reason football is so exciting is because of the social impact … and cultural capital that it has,” Arthur-Worsop said. “Nothing else in the world comes close in terms of the social engagement that football brands, personalities, and tournaments can have in terms of being able to inspire hundreds of millions, or billions, of people to change the way that they think [about climate change].”

As 48 national teams get ready to take the pitch from June to July, the spotlight will also fall on how climate change could affect the matches and the cities hosting them. While the tournament is an exciting time for fans and host cities alike, it remains unclear whether efforts to reduce heat and climate risks will be enough. Without urgent climate action, the world’s most popular sporting event could face growing limits on where it can safely be held in the future.

“Governing bodies should be incorporating climate adaptation funding into the operations, future planning, and legacy plans around all future major tournaments,” Arthur-Worsop said. “The word legacy is thrown around a lot in football, especially around major tournaments. And what better legacy can there be than protecting the future of football in the host nations where you're staging these competitions?”

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