“It’s so hot, I’m so tired. I don’t feel anything anymore.” These words come from Benfica player Anatoliy Trubin. He said it after his Lisbon club’s Club World Cup game against FC Bayern. It was around 37 degrees Celsius at the time, and even Trubin, who as a goalkeeper has to run far less than the field players, was completely exhausted.
Hundreds of other players will feel like Trubin when they have to rush ten to twelve kilometers across the pitch in what feels like 40 degrees Celsius in the sun at the World Cup in midsummer, unless FIFA intervenes. In a study, a team from the Leibniz Institute for Work Research at the TU Dortmund even spoke of what felt like 49.5 degrees, which was to be feared in individual stages.
This is an immense health risk. There can be no other decision, FIFA must schedule the games in the morning and evening, even if that would be a major disadvantage for football fans in Germany.
Of course, money dominates this sport and huge sums are paid for the broadcasting rights in Europe too. But the health of the people on the lawn should still be more important.
And the health of the spectators should also be taken into account. They would also suffer in the heat in the stadiums. Football thrives on the energy on the pitch and in the stands. But if the game becomes torture and is characterized by waiting for the next drinking break, football loses its fascination. Or as BVB coach Niko Kovač put it after his team’s Club World Cup game: “We play football, but it has nothing to do with the sport itself.”
It hurts, but it has to happen.