Study warns 2026 World Cup in North America at severe risk from extreme heat without climate adaptation
A new report, Pitches in Peril, produced by Football for the Future, Common Goal and Jupiter Intelligence, warns that without immediate climate adaptation, the 2026 World Cup may be North America's last under current planning. The study reveals that 10 out of the 16 host stadiums face very high risk from extreme heat stress. It further projects that by 2050, nearly 90 percent of these stadiums will still require adaptation for extreme heat, and one-third may contend with water demand that meets or exceeds supply.
The report also outlines threats to venues slated for the 2030 and 2034 World Cups and delves into how warming conditions could impact community-level pitches, ones played on by 18 iconic players during their formative years. Spain’s World Cup winner Juan Mata reflects the urgency of the situation with personal resolve: “As someone from Spain, I can't ignore the climate crisis,” he said, recalling last year’s devastating floods in Valencia. “Football has always brought people together, but now it's also a reminder of what we stand to lose.”
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The recent Club World Cup in the U.S. offered a disturbing glimpse of this future. Players described conditions as “impossible,” prompting FIFA to introduce emergency protocols such as cooling and water breaks, shaded benches and air fans. The study reports that, in 2025, 14 out of the 16 World Cup stadiums across the U.S., Canada and Mexico surpassed safe-play thresholds for at least three major climate hazards, extreme heat, unplayable rainfall and flooding.
In fact, 13 venues already see at least one summer day each year exceeding FIFA’s 32 °C Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) drinks-break threshold. Cities including Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Miami and Monterrey endure two months or more over that threshold annually. Moreover, 10 stadiums encounter at least one summer day reaching a WBGT of 35 °C, the limit of human adaptability to extreme heat, with Dallas facing 31 days and Houston 51.
Even those stadiums with mitigation mechanisms like roofs (such as in Dallas and Houston) are not immune to escalating risk. The report also highlights how heat is threatening soccer’s grassroots future: forward Mo Salah’s childhood pitch in Egypt could suffer more than a month of unplayable heat each year, while the childhood pitch of Nigeria’s captain William Troost-Ekong may face 338 such days by 2050.
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Piers Forster, director of the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures in Leeds, stresses that “As we move further into the decade, risks will continue growing unless we take drastic measures, such as moving competitions to winter months or cooler regions.” The 96-page report urges the soccer community to commit to net-zero emissions by 2040, publish credible decarbonisation plans, and calls for tournament organisers to create dedicated adaptation funds.
Fan perspectives also underscore the stakes: 91 percent of 3,600 supporters polled across the three host countries want the 2026 World Cup, the biggest ever to set a new standard in sustainability. Yet, another study by Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR), in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund and the Sport for Climate Action Network, cautions that with 48 participating nations and 104 matches across a massive continent, the 2026 World Cup may become the most “climate-damaging” edition in history.
SportsLigue