Qatar World Cup 2022: How climate affects soccer

The first FIFA World Cup was played in 1930. Since then, global temperatures have risen sharply for most of the world. Let’s see what has happened and how the heat has affected this year’s World Cup in Qatar.

The rate of warming, globally, since 1981 has been 0.32F (0.18C) per decade. For Qatar, the warming has also been sharply increasing since late last century. The mean temperature in 2001 was 28.22C. In 2021, the mean temperature was 29.42C. Temperatures have been increasing at a sharp rate and we notice that by comparing these last 20 years to the previous 20 years, where the mean temperature was 27.54C in 1981. The previous century’s rate was 0.68C, while in the last 20 years within this century, the rate of temperature change has almost doubled to 1.22C!

This “new” heat puts everyone at risk. The World Cup simply could not have been played in the summertime in Qatar, which is when this championship is usually played. Average afternoon temperatures in Qatar in the summer range between 95 and 97F. (35 and 36.5 degrees C). That’s on average! And these months are usually the ones with the least precipitation, so there is no relief. Therefore, the World Cup was moved to the winter to be able to be played in Qatar.

Even before the competition started, there are many workers that suffered extreme heat, like construction workers, who have been working tirelessly for many months to build stadiums and buildings in preparation for this worldly event, especially in excruciating heat.

What makes the heat worse is the high humidity levels. All the moisture from the Persian Gulf makes this region a place with high humid heat that can be deadly. The death rate of foreign workers is known to have increased in Qatar in the last few years leading up to the World Cup.

When it is very hot our body reacts by sweating, to cool down. When the relative humidity is above 60%, sweat has a harder time evaporating, which inhibits the body from cooling down. This is when the body begins to suffer serious problems ranging from heat exhaustion to hyperthermia, heat stroke, dehydration, etc. These could be deadly.

Now fast forwarding to the event. It is estimated that there are over a million visitors in the tiny Middle Eastern country. People from all over the world are there and many are not used to high humidity levels and warm temperatures, especially in December. Currently, this area is experiencing some of the most extreme humid heat on the planet. People not used to these conditions could also easily suffer heat-related illnesses.

Players are also at risk. Many soccer (or football) clubs often opted to train in places with similar climatic conditions to the ones where they are competing. But still, our bodies, no matter how healthy we are, are at risk when exposed to humid heat.

Some people could debate that the World Cup should not have been moved, but if the Cup had been held in the summer, players, fans, and workers would have experienced between 50% and 70% more hours of intense heat and between 15% and 23% more hours of extreme heat, which would have increased heat fatalities significantly.

Olympic committees have been putting in place new rules to protect players from the heat. In 2014 FIFA introduced water breaks during a match at minute-30 and 75 when there is extreme heat. Also, host nations now need to invest more money in building resilient infrastructure as well as air-conditioned stadiums to protect workers and visitors.