Late kickoffs, long delays, and scorching heat made the 2025 Club World Cup feel more like a warning than a warm-up. Held across twelve venues in the United States, the tournament revealed troubling signs that next year’s World Cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico could face similar or even bigger problems.
The Club World Cup was supposed to offer a glimpse of how things might run during the expanded 2026 World Cup. Instead, it showed how things could go off track. Matches ran far longer than usual. Start times slipped without warning. Weather delays piled up. And even halftime started to feel like an extended commercial break.
In theory, this summer’s tournament should have been a test bed for FIFA’s grand plans. In reality, it looked more like a live experiment full of bugs.
Matches were delayed by everything from thunderstorms to pre-match performances. One of the most extreme cases came during Chelsea’s last-16 game against Benfica. It started in Charlotte, paused for storms, and didn’t wrap up until nearly five hours after kickoff. In Orlando, the first half of Benfica’s match with Auckland City was stopped for two hours. In Cincinnati, Red Bull Salzburg and Pachuca had a 97-minute delay. Similar stoppages hit other matches in Nashville and New Jersey.
Enzo Maresca, Chelsea’s manager, didn’t hold back after his team endured another lengthy delay. He said it felt like a joke, not a football match, and questioned why a major competition would be held in places with weather this disruptive. He argued that matches in Europe or during a traditional World Cup rarely suffer from such interruptions.
To be fair, some of the worst-affected cities are not on the World Cup schedule. Orlando, Charlotte, and Nashville are not hosting games in 2026. But other venues like New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, where games were also disrupted this summer, will host eight World Cup matches including the final. Miami and Kansas City are also on the schedule, and both are known for stormy summers.
Heat was another major concern. Across many cities, temperatures soared to dangerous levels. Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez spoke out after nearly collapsing on the pitch. He said the heat made him dizzy and slowed down the pace of the game. He urged FIFA to avoid afternoon matches at all costs.
But that is easier said than done. With over one hundred games to be played in three countries, it will be hard to avoid early kickoffs. FIFA also has to consider the needs of global broadcasters and fans in other time zones. A match at 7pm local time in Los Angeles would start at 4am in Europe. So afternoon games are likely, even in sweltering heat.
The American style of staging sports events also added to the delays. Start times were often treated as flexible. On average, matches at the Club World Cup began one minute and 26 seconds after the scheduled time. That may not seem like much, but it is still longer than in most major European leagues. In England, games typically start less than a minute late. In France and Germany, the average delay is even shorter.
In the United States, sports fans are used to waiting. NBA games, MLB first pitches, and NFL kickoffs often run several minutes late. At the Club World Cup, this habit continued. Players were introduced one by one. Opening ceremonies dragged on. The final between Chelsea and PSG was delayed more than eight minutes, partly because of a performance by Robbie Williams.
Half-time breaks also grew longer. The average break during the tournament lasted over 19 minutes, far above the 15 minutes allowed by FIFA rules. The final had a 24-minute half-time, with musical performances taking up only part of that time. Even if you remove the extreme case of the weather-delayed Benfica match, the average still comes in at 17 minutes and 34 seconds, longer than any of Europe’s top five leagues.
In the Premier League, referees usually keep the break close to 15 minutes. In the US, things are more relaxed. But curiously, Major League Soccer this season has had shorter half-time breaks than most European leagues. The inconsistency across competitions could become a problem when applied to the World Cup.
Match durations were another red flag. First halves lasted an average of over 49 minutes. Second halves stretched beyond 56 minutes. This happened even though these matches did not include the same added time policies used in the Premier League, which now regularly adds more minutes at the end of each half. Instead, it was frequent breaks for drinks and weather delays that stretched things out.
All this led to longer games overall. The average Club World Cup match lasted two hours, six minutes, and 20 seconds. That is significantly more than the usual ninety minutes of action. MLS games in 2025 have been even longer, showing that extended breaks and delays are a norm in the US sporting culture.
The bigger concern is what all this means for the World Cup. Long games are one thing. But delayed group matches could affect the integrity of the tournament. The final games in each group are supposed to kick off at the same time, so no team has the advantage of knowing another result. But a two-hour storm delay could throw that balance off. One match could end before another even starts, giving teams an unfair tactical advantage.
FIFA could try to delay both games equally, but with such a packed schedule, that may not be possible. With 72 group-stage matches spread across just 17 days, there is little room for flexibility.
The bottom line is this. The Club World Cup offered more than just a football tournament. It gave a glimpse into the challenges FIFA may face next summer. From unpredictable weather to loose scheduling, from long breaks to excessive match times, the warning signs are already here.
Unless adjustments are made, the 2026 World Cup may not just be remembered for who wins on the pitch, but for everything that went wrong around it.
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