FIFA have confirmed that every match at the 2026 World Cup, regardless of the weather conditions, will include a three-minute interval midway through each half—dubbed “hydration breaks”—thereby effectively splitting each contest into four quarters.
This is a common concept across sports conducted by co-hosts U.S. and Canada—NFL football, NBA basketball, NHL ice hockey, among others, all operate across four quarters—but it is a radically alien addition to the game of soccer.
“Cooling breaks” are not unheard of. Intervals of between 90 seconds and three minutes have previously been administered at the judgement of the referee based on the temperature and humidity at the time. However, never before has a World Cup been conducted with the pre-agreed regulations of stoppages after 22 minutes.
“For every game, no matter where the games are played, no matter if there’s a roof, [or] temperature-wise, there will be a three-minute hydration break,” 2026 World Cup chief tournament officer Manolo Zubiria declared in a press release from FIFA. “It will be three minutes from whistle to whistle in both halves.
“Obviously, if there’s an injury [stoppage] at the moment of the 20th or 21st minute and it’s ongoing, this will be addressed on the spot with the referee.”
Why Are FIFA Splitting World Cup Games Into Quarters?
FIFA President Gianni Infantino loves to repeat the line that next summer’s World Cup will be the equivalent of “104 superbowls.” While the viewership for some of the less glamorous group stage ties will struggle to match the showpiece fixture of every NFL season, they will, just like the American iteration of football, have four quarters.
Rather than any nefarious scheme to Americanize soccer, FIFA have insisted that this is a matter of protecting the athletes. “FIFA prioritizes player welfare,” world soccer’s governing body insisted.
The universality of this measure is to “ensure equal conditions for all teams, in all matches.”
How these new stoppages will be exploited is not a topic FIFA have bothered themselves with. Some broadcasters will undoubtedly use these intervals as opportunities to roll lucrative adverts while coaches will surely take the occasion to pass on their own messages.
The tactical repercussions of these trailed stoppages could be significant if any savvy coaches can find a way of exploiting them. The time between a manager’s message to their players will be cut in half, while the number of in-game team talks has been tripled.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as FIFA Confirm Radical NFL-Style Rule Change for 2026 World Cup.