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)
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You could call this a heat of the moment decision by FIFA—mandating 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’t noticed yet, a lot of the U.S. is currently under a “heat dome.” But many fans have been booing the hydration breaks and wondering whether there are “ad”-ditional motivations behind stopping the matches 22 minutes into each half for such breaks. They’ve been contending that such water breaks have been interrupting the flow of the matches.
What Is FIFA’s Explanation For The Hydration Breaks
Well, a December 2025 announcement by FIFA introducing this new hydration break policy did insist that it was all for the players’ health. It said, “Players 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’s tournament co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.” 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. “to ensure equal conditions for all teams, in all matches.” In other words, even if a game were played under a real dome—like indoors—rather than a heat dome, hydration breaks would still occur.
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—or soccer competitions as they’re called in the U.S.—have here and there instituted drink breaks at their discretion when matches have gotten too hot. That’s “too hot” 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’s FIFA Club World Cup in the United States, where some matches had to deal with extreme heat. The FIFA announcement did emphasize, “The 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.”
There Is Justification For Hydration Breaks During The Current Heat Wave
Now, few people will argue that drinking water and getting some rest when it’s really hot outside are bad things. You won’t hear too many doctors say, “Whatever you do, don’t drink water,” unless it’s something questionable like raw water. And I have written in Forbes before 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 “urine” some trouble when it comes to not getting enough water.
Moreover, if you haven’t yet noticed, it’s 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’s called a “heat dome.”
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.