The 2026 World Cup is already approaching and a danger hangs over this edition.
With 48 teams in total, the 2026 World Cup will be unprecedented in its structure with no less than 16 additional teams compared to previous editions. After the final lost to Argentina in 2022, France hoped to win a third star next summer.
If executives have left (Griezmann, Giroud …), the new generation, always led by Kylian Mbappé, will be one of the favorite nations with Argentina, Brazil, Spain, England etc. But before you think of victory, it will be necessary to qualify, the qualifying phase starting only in a few weeks.
Contested in the United States, Canada and Mexico, this World Cup, on paper, seemed to be spared by certain constraints that FIFA had to apprehend in Qatar on the climate plan, by playing this World Cup in the middle of December. Except that everything is not going as planned!
A study by Queen’s University in Belfast warns on climatic constraints that could disrupt the selections and in particular that of the Blues. According to the report, several cities in the United States are under the threat of climatic constraints during the competition.
A significant increase in the humidity and solar radiation index in the northern hemisphere for the summer of next year is announced, enough to cause extreme heat in the middle of this World Cup … The solution would be to shift the meetings at 5 p.m. local time, about midnight in Europe.
But, new problem: the broadcasting of matches is likely to be difficult to negotiate if they are starting at unappropriate hours for the European public.
Another solution, but which could cause an explosion of the budget: air conditioning all stages as Qatar could have done. For the moment 3 stadiums have this feature of the 16 selected, the Dallas AT&T Stadium, the Houston NR G Stadium and the Mercedes -Benz Stadium of Atlanta.