FIFA Indicates World Cup Hydration Breaks May Be Discontinued

FIFA will analyse the impact of hydration breaks after the World Cup, says Arsene Wenger a day before the final.

FIFA’s chief of football development, Arsène Wenger, acknowledges that some fans have voiced dissatisfaction with the hydration break introduced for the first time at the World Cup, indicating that FIFA has yet to decide whether to retain the practice after the tournament.

When asked at a Saturday press conference whether any data demonstrated that the mandatory three‑minute interval midway through each half enhances player performance or the flow of play, Wenger replied, “No.”

‘Sometimes people have disliked it, and we must evaluate its impact after the World Cup,’ the former Arsenal manager told reporters.

It does not appear to have altered match outcomes, yet our priority is to serve football viewers, and we will reach definitive conclusions after the competition concludes.

His measured remarks at the New York/New Jersey Stadium — the venue for the Sunday final between Argentina and Spain — stood in contrast to his commendation of other innovations introduced by FIFA at the tournament.

For instance, Wenger and other members of FIFA’s Technical Study Group praised the rule requiring players who request medical attention to exit the field for a one‑minute period.

FIFA reports that the average number of medical interventions per match fell from 2.3 in 2022 to 1.6 during this tournament.

‘There is an unmeasurable aspect to this rule — the frustration felt when a player lies on the pitch without injury,’ Wenger said. ‘When I asked many people about its effect, they were uniformly positive.’

Conversely, regarding the hydration break, the FIFA official noted that fans have expressed reservations.

In matches played in covered venues, spectators were particularly unhappy, though the decision to implement the hydration break applied uniformly at the tournament’s outset,” Wenger added.

Medically, the break was required in several matches. While we have not yet reached a definitive decision, I assure you that we will.

The official rationale for the break is to safeguard players from heat, which appears less compelling in air‑conditioned venues or cooler weather conditions.

For example, during the Egypt‑Iran group‑stage match in Seattle, where temperatures hovered around 16 °C (60 °F), players were still required to observe a three‑minute pause in each half.

‘If they take a hydration break tonight, it will be quite amusing given how cold it is,’ Egyptian fan Roger Antoine told Al Jazeera before the match.

Throughout the tournament, many spectators voiced complaints about the mid‑half interval and mocked it, speculating that its purpose was to accommodate broadcasters’ commercial breaks and align football with the advertising‑driven format of American sports.

During the USA’s opening match against Paraguay in Los Angeles — a covered stadium — a steward referred to the match segments as “quarters” because of the hydration breaks.

A primary criticism is that the hydration break can disrupt game momentum, sapping the dominant team’s advantage and giving the opposing side an opportunity to regroup mentally and tactically.

Several teams have indeed conceded goals immediately after the hydration break.

‘The data clearly show that momentum shifts dramatically at the moment the hydration break occurs, which is not how football has been played for the past two centuries,’ said football fan Cesar Espino of Washington, D.C., to Al Jazeera earlier this month.

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