The 2026 World Cup will bring the heat. Here's how to keep cool
The 2026 World Cup will bring the heat. Here's how to keep cool Extreme heat poses a risk to players, spectators and workers—find out where the danger is and how to keep cool By Andrea Thompson edited by Claire Cameron It’s three decades since the International Federation of A
The 2026 World Cup will bring the heat. Here's how to keep cool
Extreme heat poses a risk to players, spectators and workers—find out where the danger is and how to keep cool
It’s three decades since the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) World Cup was last held in North America. Since then the burning of fossil fuels has raised Earth’s temperature by more than a degree Fahrenheit. And with that global warming has come much more frequent, longer-lasting and hotter heat waves, posing a major health concern for players, spectators and workers gathering over the next few weeks to watch the beautiful game’s biggest tournament.
From June 11 to July 19, the 104 matches of the 2026 World Cup will be held in stadiums across a wide range of climates, from Guadalajara, Mexico, to Vancouver, Philadelphia to Los Angeles. That means the risks will also vary from stadium to stadium. The danger also varies from person to person, depending on factors such as how acclimatized a person is to heat, as well as what medications they take or whether they already have health conditions.
To better break down the risks, we looked at the stadiums, host cities and forecasts, pinpointing where might be hottest and how best to keep cool.
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First, let’s consider the stadiums and host cities: Nonprofit research group Climate Central analyzed how the number of extremely hot days in each host city has changed over time. The threshold for an extremely hot day is set by local standards, so that threshold is lower in a mild climate like Seattle’s than in a muggy one like Houston’s.
The researchers found that nearly all of the host cities see more extremely hot days during June and July now than they did in the past. In particular, Miami, Mexico City and Guadalajara have seen some of the biggest increases. Across the 10 cities in the U.S. and Mexico that previously hosted World Cup matches, the frequency of extremely hot June and July days has tripled, Climate Central found.
