FIFPRO
The worldwide players' union whose heat and workload data challenges FIFA over 2030 expansion plans.
FIFPRO, the global players' union, found that 19% of the 2026 World Cup's 104 matches exceeded its safe-play heat threshold, in data current to 16 July 2026, intensifying its opposition to a proposed 64-team 2030 tournament.
Last refreshed: 28 July 2026
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Recorded 19% of matches played above its heat-postponement threshold
2026 FIFA World Cup: FIFPRO says one match in five was too hotBackground
FIFPRO recorded that 19% of the 2026 World Cup's 104 matches were played at a wet bulb globe temperature of 28C or above, the level at which it recommends postponing play, in data current to 16 July 2026. Six venues, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Miami and Monterrey, were rated extremely high risk. FIFA's own trigger for mandatory cooling breaks sits four degrees higher, at 32C, and talks on a written protocol covering delayed kick-offs and rescheduling have run since early July without a concluded agreement.
FIFPRO is the global federation representing national players' unions, acting as the collective voice of professional footballers in disputes with FIFA and the confederations over pay, release windows and playing conditions. Its independent heat monitoring at the 2026 tournament extended a role it has taken at prior World Cups, gathering its own physiological data rather than relying on figures supplied by organisers.
The union's heat findings now feed directly into its opposition to a 64-team 2030 World Cup, a format floated by FIFA president Gianni Infantino and pushed again by CONMEBOL's Alejandro Dominguez but still only a proposal under study, with no FIFA Council vote yet scheduled. FIFPRO projects that expansion would push elite internationals to between 70 and 83 matches a season across club and country.