Will this World Cup be the world’s most-watched climate change event?
Climate change is now part of football
The FIFA World Cup 2026 is expected to be watched by billions of people around the world.
For a few weeks, football will dominate screens, feeds, and conversations across every corner of every continent. As the world’s most-watched event of all time, it's safe to say that nothing commands global attention like the FIFA World Cup.
But this tournament will take place against a new reality.
Climate change is now part of football itself. On the pitch, in stadiums, and in the way the game is played, experienced, and discussed. Extreme heat, heavy rain, and changing weather patterns are already influencing matches around the world.
Football is changing with the climate.
We already know what climate disruption at a major tournament looks like
We do not need to imagine what climate change means for a major football tournament. We have already seen it. The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 offered a clear preview of what football looks like in a hotter world.
Played in extreme summer conditions, the tournament was shaped by heat. Cooling breaks became a regular feature of play. Coaches adjusted tactics around temperature and recovery. Broadcasts and commentary focused on whether conditions were safe for players to continue.
Even small, unexpected details became headline moments. Images of police dogs wearing protective footwear to protect them from hot surfaces were widely circulated, a reminder that climate impacts in football will show up in unexpected ways.
And even this disruption pales in comparison to the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup, which was moved from its traditional June–July window to November–December to reduce the risks posed by extreme heat in Qatar.
The climate narrative is becoming unavoidable. Climate conditions are becoming part of the football story itself, shaping how tournaments are played, experienced and discussed. Before a ball has even been kicked at the 2026 World Cup, concerns around extreme heat, player welfare and tournament resilience have already become part of the conversation.
It points to a new era of football's understanding of climate risk, and how major tournaments are planned, delivered, and ultimately understood in a changing climate.
The football–climate perception gap
Our record breaking survey last year showed that when matches are paused for cooling breaks, when pitches flood, or when games are rescheduled due to extreme weather, the fans does not necessarily understand these to be the result of climate change.
Football For Future calls this the football–climate perception gap.
This describes the disconnect between the disruption that people are experiencing through football, and the recognition of climate change as a root cause.
This matters because football is one of the clearest ways people experience climate change in everyday life. At the local grassroots level, it shows up through flooded pitches, cancelled games and unsafe heat. While these moments are experienced by those directly involved, they are rarely associated with climate patterns and receive limited wider attention.
When climate disruption shows up at elite level football however, it becomes visible at a global scale. This creates an important opportunity to help people join the dots between the impacts of extreme weather on the game, and climate change itself. Through storytelling and good communications, we can close the football-climate perception gap.
Why the World Cup matters
The FIFA World Cup 2026 may be the highest carbon tournament ever staged, but it could have an even bigger impact - that of making climate disruption and climate adaptation visible at a global scale.
With billions watching, the World Cup is more than a football moment. It is an opportunity to start a serious conversation about the climate realities we face and the future we want to build. This is about protecting our only home, and safeguarding the places we play.
And beyond the final whistle, the World Cup's legacy represents one of the most significant opportunities in football to invest in the future of the game. If tournament legacy programmes help create safer and more resilient places to play, the benefits can be felt by communities for decades after the final match.
Football needs to do more to adapt to our new climate reality
Climate adaptation is defined by the IPCC as the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects. In football, stadiums have long been built to remain safe and playable under extreme weather conditions, through structural design and engineered pitch drainage and undersoil heating systems .
Climate change is already forcing football to go further, in considering how matches are scheduled, how players, staff, and fans are protected, and how tactics need to be adjusted.
All of this is climate adaptation in action, whether it is described that way or not. And it is increasingly clear that further action on climate adaptation is required.
Professional footballers recently wrote to FIFA calling for stronger heat protocols ahead of the 2026 World Cup. The letter, spearheaded by Football For Future Climate Champion David Wheeler, warned that without further precautions, player safety could be put at risk. This echoed recent concerns raised by leading scientists and medical experts.
As elite football wrestles with the impacts of a changing climate, it is the frontlines of grassroots football and community pitches, where the next generation are beginning their footballing journey, that are even more exposed to the increasingly extreme conditions.
Football For Future’s campaign
This is why Football For Future is using this tournament as a platform for a wider conversation: Climate resilience should be embedded into the legacy of major football tournaments, to protect the future of football from climate extremes.
This is not a new agenda for the game. It builds on football’s existing priorities around safety, playability, accessibility, and long-term legacy, and reflects how these objectives must evolve to consider the impacts of a changing climate.
Over the last year, we’ve been working to better understand how climate risks impact football, and how climate adaptation can be practically applied across different levels of the game:
The first IPCC-aligned climate risk report for football, revealing how climate change is threatening the game from World Cup stadiums to community pitches.
A practical climate adaptation toolkit for community soccer in the USA, supporting soccer organisations to understand climate impacts, identify local climate hazards, assess vulnerability and take action.
A framework for global football tournaments to help grassroots clubs access the funding needed to strengthen resilience to climate impacts, produced through Columbia Climate School’s Capstone Workshop course.
Together, these show that climate adaptation in community football is both necessary and deliverable.
How our campaign will unfold
Our campaign will evolve across three phases during and after the World Cup.
During the tournament
Throughout the tournament, we’ll be responding to World Cup moments to help people join the dots between the impacts of extreme weather on the game, and climate change itself - and therefore close the football-climate perception gap.
We’ll also be hosting an event in London at The Volley during London Climate Action Week, as an opportunity for those from football, climate, and sustainability to connect, learn more about our campaign, and explore how the game is changing.
World Cup Final, New York City - 18 July 2026
On the eve of the World Cup Final, we will launch our Climate Resilient Legacy Playbook - a first-of-its-kind framework for embedding climate resilience into the legacy of major tournaments, to protect the future of football from climate extremes.
This will be launched at an invitation-only convening in New York City, co-hosted by Football For Future and Columbia University, bringing together senior leaders from football, climate, infrastructure, media and philanthropy to discuss how major football tournaments can leave a legacy of climate resilience.
The evening will also feature the world premiere of the documentary teaser for ‘Pitches in Peril: Frontlines’, a panel with leaders across climate and football, and will be accompanied by our Climate Champions Community calling for climate resilience to be embedded into the future of the game.
Post-tournament into NYC Climate Week
Following the World Cup, we’ll be reflecting on how climate change affected the tournament and working to secure climate resilience within the legacy of future major football tournaments.
The campaign will continue through to NYC Climate Week with the full premiere of ‘Pitches in Peril: Frontlines’, a documentary exploring how climate change is already disrupting football at community level across LA, Florida, and Mexico City.
Protecting the future of football
When extreme weather affects football, climate change is not always recognised as the root cause. So with the World Cup set to make climate disruption visible at a global scale, this is an opportunity to start a serious conversation about the climate realities we face and the future we want to build.
Football for Future’s message is simple: Climate resilience should be embedded into the legacy of major football tournaments to protect the future of football from climate extremes.
Success would mean unlocking resources to invest in climate adaptation across community football facilities, to protect players, pitches, development pathways, equitable access and, collectively, the future of the game. Football’s leadership in taking climate adaptation seriously would represent an acknowledgement of a new climate reality, acting as a catalyst for other sectors, communities and wider society.
We need a game that remains safe, accessible, playable, and resilient in a changing climate, at all levels.
The future of football depends on how it adapts to a changing climate.
If this inspires you or you think you can help, please get in touch: info@footballforfuture.org.
