The 2026 FIFA World Cup is coming to the United States in less than 100 days and some fans are expected to be sweltering from the summer heat. Hydration breaks will, of course, be in effect but FIFA has decided to tweak the rules a bit.
According to The Athletic, FIFA will allow broadcasters to break away from the action during a hydration break to show commercials. In the past, commercials were seldom ever done in the middle of a World Cup broadcast. Each hydration break will be roughly three minutes in the middle of each half.
"FIFA will allow broadcasters to cut away to advertisements during the “hydration breaks” that will split up each half of every 2026 World Cup match, multiple people briefed on the guidelines or with direct knowledge of them told The Athletic," The Athletic FC reported. "Soccer’s global governing body announced in December that it would introduce a three-minute break midway through each 45-minute half at the World Cup. It promoted the breaks as a “player welfare” measure, but said there’d be “no weather or temperature condition in place, with the breaks being called by the referee in all games.” FIFA officials also discussed the change with broadcast executives, and three sources, including one at FIFA, have now confirmed to The Athletic that broadcasters will be permitted to flip away from the match feed to show commercials, as they would during halftime or a timeout in basketball or American football."
"There must be a 20 second buffer between when the whistle blows for a hydration break and the start of advertising and networks must return to coverage at least 30 seconds before play restarts. That’s a welcome step to ensure that no action is missed, however it still means that fans could have to sit through at least two minutes of commercials during each half," Awful Announcing noted.
Panic
Soccer fans quickly pushed the panic button, declaring that this change is only going to make the sport worse and cause commercial breaks to sprout up in major leagues across the world.
"This is what VAR is all about. Making stoppages a normal part of the game so they can introduce advertising. Ads during hydration breaks will ultimately lead to ads during goal checks etc," one user warned on X.
YUKI IWAMURA/Getty Images
"The American take over of football is horrible. The sport is constantly altering for the worse," wrote another.
"Gianni Infantino’s karma will get you for everything you’ve done to ruin the beautiful game, and I hope we have someone that can challenge you and win, kick you out for good!" a third hoped.
Soccer fans have enjoyed the game largely the same way for decades with the biggest change implemented on a large scale being VAR. But while that's a bad enough interruption, commercials are an entirely different type of disruption.
Anyone who advertises in that slot might honestly be doing their brand more harm than good.
