The substitutes of Borussia Dortmund watched the first half of the Club World Cup match against Mamelodi Sundowns in the locker room on Saturday due to the heat. In the host city of Cincinnati, it was over 30 degrees Celsius and the humidity was very high.
The Club World Cup is dealing with extreme weather conditions. For example, the players of Paris Saint-Germain and Atlético Madrid suffered from the extreme heat in Los Angeles (35 degrees Celsius) and four matches in the United States have already been suspended due to thunderstorms.
On Saturday it was very hot again during the match between Dortmund and the South African Mamelodi Sundowns, so the management of the German club advised the substitutes to stay in the cooled locker room. Dortmund eventually won the match 3-4.
The matches at the World Cup are regularly played at the hottest time of the day, because that is better for the broadcasting schedule in Europe. European clubs are not used to the heat.
“It was very tough,” said Dortmund coach Niko Kovac after the match to the German Das Erste. “We played too slowly, but that’s not surprising under these circumstances.”
The FIFA is already under fire because of the new format of the World Cup and the extra burden on the players. The extreme weather conditions cause even more commotion around the tournament, of which the number of clubs has been expanded from 7 to 32 this year.
The tournament is now also held every four years and no longer in the winter, but in the summer.
Next year, the World Cup for countries will also be in the United States, which is organizing the tournament together with Canada and Mexico. It is feared that that World Cup will also be plagued by extreme weather conditions. Cincinnati is not a host city in 2026.