{"id":32221,"date":"2026-06-05T09:59:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/world-cup-2026-heat-experts-warn-reckless-fifa-of-bottle-ban-health-risk\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T09:59:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:59:25","slug":"world-cup-2026-heat-experts-warn-reckless-fifa-of-bottle-ban-health-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/world-cup-2026-heat-experts-warn-reckless-fifa-of-bottle-ban-health-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2026: Heat experts warn ‘reckless’ Fifa of bottle ban health risk"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Fifa have responded to heat safety concerns by introducing one three-minute hydration break in each half<\/a> for every game at the tournament.<\/p>\n

But Ollie Jay, a professor of heat and health at the University of Sydney, says he is more worried about spectator welfare than that of players.<\/p>\n

“If you look at the athlete population, all of them are very fit,” Jay said.<\/p>\n

“Whereas if you think about the spectators, you’ve got a broad range of different people that will be attending, from young kids to elderly people, people with chronic diseases, people taking different types of medications – all of which results in different levels of heat sensitivity.<\/p>\n

“Your average spectator is probably going to be less resilient to the heat than these highly conditioned professional athletes.”<\/p>\n

He warned that heat strain could accumulate progressively as fans are exposed to heat on their journey to the game and risk arriving at the stadium in a state of dehydration.<\/p>\n

“It’s not just the temperature that we need to be concerned about,” Jay added.<\/p>\n

“If you think about your average spectator sitting in a closely confined area surrounded by lots of other people, they’ll be in direct sunlight. It might be humid. The airflow might be low.<\/p>\n

“And therefore, the amount of heat stress that their body has to cope with could be quite significant.”<\/p>\n

In May, Jay was one of 20 experts who signed an open letter to Fifa warning that guidelines left players at risk of serious harm.<\/a><\/p>\n

Plans for misting systems and shaded areas were called “inadequate” – and Jay says that the bottle ban endangers fans further: “Unless the cooling controls are really successful, I would imagine this decision [to ban water bottles in stadiums] will clearly heighten the risk of heat-related health incidents.”<\/p>\n

Dr Theodore Keeping from Imperial College London, author of a World Weather Attribution study of heat safety at the tournament, stressed the importance of access to water.<\/p>\n

“Allowing fair and equitable access to hydration is a basic first defence against the extreme heat risks climate change is bringing to this World Cup,” Keeping said.<\/p>\n

Andrew Simms, from the New Weather Institute, said: “Is Fifa climate-trolling the game it’s meant to protect?<\/p>\n

“It is already staging the most polluting World Cup ever, sponsored by one of the world’s biggest climate-polluting oil companies, and has heat safety protocols heavily criticised by world leading health experts.<\/p>\n

“Now making it even more difficult for fans to stay safe in a competition vulnerable to global heating seems to be a reckless rejection of Fifa’s duty of care.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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