When the United States takes the pitch against Australia this afternoon, millions of soccer fans will tune in. Anyone who hasn’t watched a match since the last World Cup will notice something new: players stopping midway through each half to drink some water. Introduced in the name of player safety, these mandatory three-minute breaks are a surprise controversy that has shoved climate change into the spotlight. ‘Water-gate,’ blared a headline in The Independent, a U.K. newspaper. The chief sportswriter at the Daily Mail called the breaks a ‘momentum killer’ and a ‘money-grabbing disgrace.’ Fans were equally outraged. Spectators at the match between England and Croatia booed when the referee blew the whistle, and comments poured in on Reddit. ‘I’m booing from home,’ read one. Another said, ‘FIFA ruined the beautiful game.’ FIFA, the sport’s governing body and organizer of the tournament, declined to comment and referred Grist to its announcement of the policy in December. ‘The use of hydration breaks is part of a focused attempt to ensure the best possible conditions for players,’ the statement read. Before this World Cup, cooling breaks only occurred when the wet bulb temperature — essentially a measure of air temperature and humidity combined — reached 32 degrees Celsius, or about 90 Fahrenheit. Now the rule applies to all games, regardless of temperature, humidity, or other factors. It even applies to matches played indoors with air conditioning. The move came after criticism of a tournament in the United States last summer, when the organization representing players, FIFPRO, said extreme heat should have canceled matches. ‘It has never been more important,’ the organization said in a press release before the World Cup, ‘to give space to scientific knowledge and find mitigation strategies that protect the health and wellbeing of our players.’ Players cool down during a hydration break in the FIFA World Cup 2026 match between Spain and Cabo Verde at Atlanta Stadium on June 15. Buda Mendes / Getty Images There is no doubt that rest and water can help protect players in a world where extreme heat is becoming more common and increasingly dangerous. But many fans, and even athletes, think FIFA has gone too far. ‘If it’s really hot, obviously it will be good to put them in. But I think you have to look at it in every game separately, in my opinion,’ said Virgil van Dijk, captain of the Netherlands’ squad. One Reddit user complained, ‘We’re inundated with commercials.’ That’s been a frequent complaint, and it has led to speculation that FIFA implemented the breaks to boost the number of ads that are shown. Broadcasters aren’t required to go to full-screen commercials during hydration breaks — Telemundo and the BBC, for instance, don’t. FIFA also dictates that ads must start 20 seconds into the pause and end 30 seconds before play resumes. But that still creates 2 minutes and 10 seconds of extra ad time available per half, which can be extremely lucrative. The Wall Street Journal reports that a 30-second spot during early games sells for roughly $200,000 and rises to around $750,000 when the U.S. national team plays. ‘They’ve essentially divided the game into quarters,’ John Kosner, a former ESPN executive, told The Journal, ‘and made enormously valuable breaks.’ About 67 minutes into the opening game of the World Cup, the referee signaled for a mandatory hydration break. The American broadcaster, Fox, cut to commercials. But they ran longer than the respite, so players were left stalling and many viewers missed the restart entirely. Fox said it didn’t see the referee signal the start of the break because it came during a replay. FIFA doesn’t plan to punish the network. But the incident did little to quell people’s fears about commercialization — in part because the temperature at kickoff was a relatively balmy 74 degrees F.FIFA has required the breaks in all matches as an effort to be fair across a tournament that sees teams playing in 16 stadiums and three countries. That argument, though, has again done little to ease criticism. ‘That doesn’t ring true to me,’ said Chris Taylor, the head coach of the Vermont Green FC’s men’s team, explaining that every soccer game has different stoppages and different lengths. The Green are a climate-focused organization, so the dangers of extreme heat are particularly front of mind. Taylor sees hydration breaks as critical when the conditions warrant them, which they have numerous times during his decades-long career as a player and coach. Still, he questions FIFA’s motives at this World Cup. ‘I don’t think the health of the players is their primary concern,’ he said. ‘This World Cup has felt that every angle has been monetized.’ This story was originally published by Grist with the headline How FIFA’s climate solution has turned into ‘water-gate’ on Jun 19, 2026.