'Dangerous for Players and Fans Alike': The World Cup About to Kick Off Under a Climate Warning

South Korea's national football team warms up during a community training session at Chivas Valle Verde in Guadalajara, Mexico, on June 6 (local time), their base camp ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. [Yonhap]

"It could be dangerous for both players and spectators." — World Weather Attribution report

The largest football tournament in history is days away from kickoff. Yet the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America, opening Thursday, is drawing warnings that it could also be the worst edition ever staged — on multiple fronts.

Chief among the concerns is heat. As climate change drives temperatures higher around the world, the host cities have repeatedly recorded abnormal heat, and that trend shows no sign of letting up.

Thousands of people perform a "human wave" along a major boulevard in Mexico City on June 6 ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. [EPA]

Temperatures across multiple host cities have already climbed above 30 degrees Celsius, prompting questions about whether conditions are suitable for competitive football. Concerns are mounting that both players and spectators could fall victim to the heat.

South Korea's national team is no exception. The squad's group-stage matches are scheduled in Monterrey, Mexico, and other venues where extreme heat is a persistent problem.

The heat risk is not the only concern. Given the tournament's record scale, the environmental damage it generates is also projected to reach an all-time high.

FIFA legend and former Brazil international Gilberto Silva poses with the original FIFA World Cup trophy at the Gimpo Business Aviation Center in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, as part of the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola. [Airport Photographers Pool]

The climate scientist network World Weather Attribution warned that the North America World Cup, opening Thursday, could expose players and spectators to unprecedented levels of heat stress. The group estimated that roughly 26 of the tournament's 104 matches will be played under wet-bulb globe temperature conditions of 26 degrees Celsius or above.

The wet-bulb globe temperature, or WBGT, differs from a standard air temperature reading. It factors in humidity, wind, solar angle and cloud cover alongside temperature. Sports governing bodies consider a WBGT above 26 degrees Celsius a threshold requiring cooling breaks. A reading of 28 degrees or higher is considered dangerous enough to warrant postponing a match.

Local Mexican fans watch South Korea's national football team train at Chivas Valle Verde in Guadalajara, Mexico, on June 6 ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. [Yonhap]

To put that in perspective, a WBGT of 28 degrees Celsius is roughly equivalent to an air temperature of 38 degrees in dry heat, or 30 degrees in a high-humidity environment. For players who must sustain intense physical exertion outdoors for 90 minutes or more, a significant number of matches will effectively be played in sweltering conditions.

WWA stressed that this is not simply a consequence of hosting matches in traditionally warm regions. The group's analysis found that dangerously hot conditions are now more frequent and more widespread than they were during the 1994 World Cup in the United States — a direct result of climate change raising the baseline risk for tournament football.

Auckland City's Gerard Garriga cools off under a sprinkler during a hydration break at the Club World Cup Group C match against Boca Juniors in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 24, 2025. [AP]

WWA estimated that under 1994 climate conditions, roughly 21 matches would have exceeded a WBGT of 26 degrees Celsius. Under current 2026 conditions, that figure rises to about 26. Approximately five matches are projected to surpass the 28-degree WBGT threshold at which FIFPRO guidelines recommend postponement.

Performance degradation is also expected. Climate Central found that climate change could impair athletic performance in 97 of the tournament's 104 matches this year.

Son Heung-min and other members of South Korea's national football team take part in their first training session after arriving in Mexico, at Chivas Valle Verde in Guadalajara, on June 6 (local time). [Yonhap]

The risk varies by venue. Miami, Mexico City, Houston and Guadalajara are considered the most heat-prone host cities based on the past decade of data. Each of those cities experiences at least 10 days per year classified as locally extreme heat days during June and July. Of the four, only Houston's stadium is fully air-conditioned.

Recent forecasts paint a similarly harsh picture. As of Monday, temperatures at most major US host cities are projected to hover around or above 30 degrees Celsius with high humidity from the opening days of the tournament. Philadelphia and the New York-New Jersey stadium are forecast to hit highs of 36 degrees and 34 degrees Celsius, respectively, this week.

Heat shimmer rises behind a thermometer-hygrometer on Yeouidae-ro in Seoul. [Lim Se-jun]

South Korea's squad faces a particularly high level of heat exposure compared with other nations. The team plays its Thursday and June 18 group-stage matches at Guadalajara Stadium and its June 24 match at Monterrey Stadium — two Mexican cities known for intense heat, strong solar radiation and high humidity.

FIFA has responded by scheduling matches in hotter cities during evening hours and introducing mandatory three-minute hydration breaks in each half across all 104 matches. Critics argue, however, that these measures are the bare minimum and fall well short of guaranteeing player safety or performance.

Son Heung-min and other members of South Korea's national football team train at Zions Bank Training Center in Herriman, Utah. [Yonhap]

A separate problem is that the tournament is itself accelerating the very climate crisis threatening it. According to a report titled "FIFA's Climate Blind Spot," published by a coalition including the UK nonprofit New Weather Institute, the tournament is estimated to generate approximately 9.02 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions — roughly double the average of 4.71 million metric tons recorded across the four most recent World Cups.

Air travel is the single largest driver of those emissions, accounting for an estimated 7.72 million metric tons of the total. The expansion of the tournament from 32 to 48 participating nations this year, spread across 16 cities in three countries, means millions of fans and officials have little choice but to fly, the report found.

Iran's Mehdi Taremi and Alireza Jahanbakhsh arrive with the national squad at Tijuana International Airport in Tijuana, Mexico, on Sunday ahead of the World Cup. [Reuters]

The 2026 World Cup has thus taken on a dual character: both a victim of the climate crisis and a contributor to it. That contradiction has fueled calls for a fundamental rethinking of how the tournament is organized and hosted.

WWA said that without meaningful adaptation measures — such as wider access to air conditioning and expanded cooling facilities — "hosting football matches in the Northern Hemisphere summer in a warming climate could become increasingly dangerous for both players and spectators." The group added that adaptation alone is not enough, calling for "rapid mitigation efforts to move away from burning fossil fuels."

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