Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, has said indoor air-conditioned venues will be used as much as possible for day-time kick-offs at the 2026 World Cup to combat expected high temperatures. Concerns have been raised about player welfare during the Club World Cup in the US, which will co-host next year’s tournament with Canada and Mexico.
Enzo Fernández described conditions during Chelsea’s semi-final against Fluminense, when the temperature was 35C, as “very dangerous”.
Infantino said better use would be made of indoor air-conditioned venues in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Vancouver. There are 16 host venues – 11 in the US, two in Canada and three in Mexico. Vancouver has by far the coolest average June and July temperatures of the indoor venues.
“The heat is definitely an issue,” Infantino said. “It’s an issue around the world. I remember it was the same in the Olympics in Paris and in other football games. But we have stadiums in America that are covered and one in Canada in Vancouver and we will definitely use these stadiums more during the day.”
Infantino declared the Club World Cup a huge financial success and said the revamped, 32-team tournament had generated close to £1.5bn in revenue. The competition concludes in New York on Sunday with a final between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, which is due to be attended by Donald Trump.
Infantino said: “The golden era of global club football has started. We can say definitely this Fifa Club World Cup has been a huge, huge, huge success. Of course, there are a lot of positives, some negatives. We respect everyone’s opinion. It has been successful.
“We heard financially it would not work but I can say we generated over $2bn (£1.48bn) in revenues with this competition. We earned on average $33m per match. There is no other cup competition in the world that comes close to $33m per match. It is already the most successful club competition in the world.”
Infantino responded to criticism over poor attendances at some matches by saying 2.5m tickets were sold, equating to an average of 40,000 per match. “There is no league in the world with that number, except the Premier League which, of course, has home teams.”
Infantino thanked Trump for his endorsement of the tournament. “He loves the game,” he said. “You cannot organise a competition like this without the full support of the government. Great thanks to president Trump – he has been fantastic and he is attending the final tomorrow as well.”
