The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup Is About To Get A Lot Hotter

While some teams – particularly those from milder European climbs – have already complained about oppressive heat at games across the United States through the first week of the tournament, forecasts are calling for conditions to worsen significantly over the next several days.

So far, the heat has been mostly seasonal in June in the U.S., particularly on the Eastern Seaboard where the majority of tournament matches are being played. That has prompted some kidding from local observers of the tournament, who are accustomed to regularly playing through such conditions in domestic play as well as the currently ongoing Concacaf Gold Cup.

But the next few days could be truly dangerous in places where group stage matches are scheduled. And possibly compounding matters are FIFA’s decision the schedule the majority of those matches before sundown locally, to be shown in more favorable TV windows in Europe and elsewhere around the world.

There are currently five group stage games scheduled where the forecast high is 94 degrees Fahrenheit or higher and the match is scheduled entirely. (All data is from Weather.com as of Saturday evening.)

Sunday

Juventus vs. Wydad AC (Philadelphia)

• Kickoff time: 12 pm ET
• Forecast high: 97F | 36C

Real Madrid vs. CF Pachuca (Charlotte, N.C.)

• Kickoff time: 3 pm ET
• Forecast high: 94F | 34C

RB Salzburg vs. Al-Hilal (Washington)

• Kickoff time: 6 pm ET
• Forecast high: 98F | 37C

Tuesday

Auckland City vs. Boca Juniors (Nashville, Tenn.)

• Kickoff time: 2 pm CT
• Forecast high: 96F | 36C

Benfica vs. Bayern Munich (Charlotte, N.C.)

• Kickoff time: 3 pm ET
• Forecast high: 102F | 39C

Wednesday

Borussia Dortmund vs. Ulsan HD (Cincinnati)

• Kickoff time: 3 pm ET
• Forecast high: 94F | 34F

There are no current plans to reschedule kickoff times, though as recent weather delays have shown, that sort of thing is always subject to change.

But part of the issue is that final group games from Monday to Thursday are scheduled tkick off simultaneously to avoid giving any team a competitive advantage on the final day of group play.

So if one match is rescheduled for later in the day, presumably the corresponding other match in the group would also need to be.

Of course, temperature is only part of the story. The heat index and WetBulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) use additional factors such as relative humidity and sun intensity to measure how adverse conditions are.

But were these MLS fixtures, it appears likely they would be rescheduled to night kickoffs. According to information from the league’s website published in 2016, matches will go into a delay if and when the WBGT rise above 92.3. Given that all of these kickoffs occur before sundown – and given that in the Eastern United States, heat and humidity go together – it’s very likely conditions will exceed that threshold at least at some of these scheduled fixtures.

Looking forward, there may be even more potential for heat to have extreme impact on the knockout phase. Of the 15 scheduled single-elimination matches, 11 are scheduled to kick off at 4 pm ET or earlier in outdoor conditions.

Temperatures aren’t expected to be quite as hot into early July as they are the first few days of the coming week, but summer forecasts in particular are turbulent, and another wave of extreme heat before the competition ends wouldn’t be all that surprising.