Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai
Football is a game of two halves — X
Football is a game of four quarters — ✓
Welcome to Copa Infantino a.k.a. the 2026 FIFA World Cup. What next, a basketball-style timeout?
Mexico City is not reeling under the scorching sun at the moment. The mercury is hovering around 80 degrees Fahrenheit, which is around 26.5 degrees Celsius. In Boston also, the temperature is like that. Los Angeles is cooler. But the matches at this World Cup are having water breaks of three minutes each in both halves. Player welfare? Nonsense. Apparently, it’s pure commerce. According to sources, TV networks are selling those three-minute pauses for $7M–$9M a slot.
Hydration breaks have been in place since Brazil 2014, but they were specifically meant for matches where the mercury soared over 32C. Why teams need one at a venue like Atlanta’s climate-controlled stadium is something only FIFA can answer.
It’s not that Mexico is hosting the World Cup for the first time. They did it twice before, in 1970 and 1986. On both occasions, the tournament was played in the summer, in June-July. The United States had hosted the World Cup in 1994. Once again, it was a summer event. Never were there any water breaks.
Ask Gary Linekar, and he would tell you how Azteca was like a “furnace” on the day Diego Maradona had scored his ‘Hand of God’ goal followed by the ‘goal of the century’ against England at the 1986 World Cup. Any suggestions of water breaks would have been laughed off back then. So, what changed now? It’s ostensibly the governing body’s greed.
Kudos to Jurgen Klopp, the legendary former Liverpool manager, for going two-footed at FIFA.
“Football is being held hostage by executives in air-conditioned offices,” he said, speaking on German broadcaster ZDF, as quoted by L’Equipe. “These so-called ‘cooling breaks’ were sold to us as a shield for the players’ well-being. It’s nothing more than a gilded cage built for sponsors.”
Gordon ‘Merlin’ Hill, the ex-Manchester United winger, isn’t mincing his words either. “Using ads at water breaks, how low will FIFA stoop,” he posted on his X (formerly Twitter) handle. “Yes, people are right, making a game not 2 halves but 4 quarters I wonder where that came from.”
Does Señor Gianni, the FIFA overload, bother? “We are a sports organisation that does as much as we can (presumably for football),” he had said at the pre-tournament press conference. “It’s important sometimes to chill, relax. Sometimes screaming and shouting does not find a solution.”
Chill, relax, and wake up on the sofa wondering what next.
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