This World Cup is uniquely difficult: it’s not the warmth, the altitude or journey – it’s the mix

This article introduces The Athletic’s World Cup efficiency sequence, through which Alan McCall attracts on greater than 20 years of expertise throughout elite soccer to clarify the science behind the challenges groups are going through this summer season and the methods they’ll use to take care of them.

He begins unpacking the distinctive challenges of getting ready for a World Cup that spans three international locations and a dizzying vary of circumstances.

The 2026 World Cup will expose groups to an unusually advanced mixture of environmental and logistical challenges throughout three international locations, a number of climates, huge journey distances, and doubtlessly differing altitudes and time zones — not as a result of these challenges are new to World Cups, however as a result of they might be extra pronounced and variable throughout a single event than ever.

Environmental and logistical challenges are a part of worldwide event soccer. Teams have lengthy been required to adapt to demanding and infrequently unpredictable circumstances, from altitude in Mexico in 1986 to the warmth of the United States in 1994 to journey throughout international locations in South Korea and Japan in 2002.

More not too long ago, Russia in 2018 introduced in depth journey distances however typically reasonable and comparatively constant environmental circumstances, whereas Qatar in 2022 offered a distinct kind of problem — a World Cup performed in the course of the center of the membership season for most of the world’s elite gamers, however with minimal journey between venues and climate-regulated stadiums.

These have been important calls for, however they have been typically extra steady, predictable, or centred on one major issue, permitting groups to arrange extra particularly.

The calls for of 2026, nevertheless, can’t be so simply separated. The problem at this summer season’s World Cup lies within the cumulative impact of transitioning between environments throughout matches, and the variability this creates for preparation, restoration, and efficiency.

Fluminense gamers attempting to chill off in the course of the Club World Cup on the New York/New Jersey stadium final summer season (Paul Ellis/AFP by way of Getty Images)

Across a World Cup, these efficiency influencing pressures accumulate. Match play naturally induces fatigue and may disrupt sleep. Travel compounds this, notably when mixed with modifications in local weather, altitude, and routine. Heat and humidity doubtless additional impair restoration, whereas altitude provides a further physiological pressure. These components don’t act alone — they work together and affect bodily restoration, psychological freshness, and decision-making throughout the event.

Throughout this World Cup Performance sequence, I’ll draw on greater than 20 years of expertise throughout membership and worldwide elite soccer, alongside conversations with elite gamers, medical and efficiency employees, and main researchers, to discover how groups are doubtless approaching these challenges and the science and sensible realities shaping these methods.

Better ready than ever

While the 2026 World Cup might current a uniquely advanced mixture of challenges, the results of those calls for are actually higher understood. The science is stronger, monitoring applied sciences are extra superior, and lots of medical and efficiency employees possess larger publicity to elite competitions and main tournaments than at any earlier World Cup. This offers groups a greater alternative to arrange with larger precision for the mixed physiological, psychological and logistical calls for of warmth, journey and altitude.

The only utility of those approaches tends to return from skilled and built-in medical and efficiency groups — together with docs, physiotherapists, bodily efficiency coaches, sport scientists, and nutritionists — who perceive not solely what to implement, however when and the way to apply it throughout the realities of event soccer.

Over time, these employees teams develop a capability to recognise patterns, anticipate challenges, and distinguish what issues from what doesn’t. When that studying compounds throughout a number of tournaments, it might probably develop into a major aggressive benefit.

Les Gelis, who labored throughout a number of World Cups with Australia’s males’s staff, captures this effectively: “Having core staff across two, three or four tournaments creates a form of organisational maturity. The key is being able to cut through the noise and become more efficient.”

Countries equivalent to Germany, Argentina and Croatia might not strategy preparation in precisely the identical manner, however there’s typically an underlying organisational DNA formed via repeated publicity to main tournaments and difficult environments. Croatia, finalists in 2018 and third-place finishers in 2022, have develop into considered one of worldwide soccer’s most persistently aggressive event groups.

Former Croatia nationwide staff physician Zoran Bahtijarevic, who labored throughout 4 World Cups, described how that amassed event expertise can form future preparation. “You use your own learning over time and tournaments as well as your own research and you improve each time,” he stated.

No good plan, solely chances – and trade-offs

There is not any good plan for getting ready for the 2026 World Cup. For many groups, preparation begins years prematurely — typically earlier than qualification has even been secured — earlier than changing into progressively extra particular as soon as opponents, host cities, and potential routes via the event are recognized.

Reflecting on preparations for the 2018 World Cup, former Australia physiotherapist Les Gelis recollects that “two years before the tournament, before we had even qualified, we had already visited Russia and scouted potential opposition”.

Qualification after which the draw enable groups to maneuver from broad planning to extra focused selections round base camps — the place groups will basically make their dwelling in the course of the event, dwelling, coaching, and recovering between matches — alongside journey, restoration, and preparation for the precise environments they’re more likely to face.

Malo Gusto and Kylian Mbappe coaching at France’s World Cup preparation camp in Nantes (Franck Fife / AFP by way of Getty Images)

Germany’s former head of efficiency, Shad Forsythe, who was at their 2014 World Cup-winning event, described how, as soon as the draw is understood, key federation employees — together with Forsythe himself, the pinnacle coach, technical director, and medical and efficiency groups — start narrowing down choices, scouting venues, and mapping potential event routes and trade-offs.

“You have an idea from the draw where you might be and when, so you can really start planning where you want to be, when you want to arrive, and what you want in place,” Forsythe defined. “You talk about all the possibilities and offer up potential solutions, but you know you need to keep your options open.”

The number of pathways in 2026 means mapping a number of situations as soon as once more turns into important. Teams may transfer from sea stage to greater than 2,200 metres altitude in Mexico City inside days, whereas warmth stress ranges may additionally range significantly throughout host cities relying on kick-off instances and whether or not stadiums are open-air or climate-controlled.

Wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) — a measure combining temperature, humidity, wind and photo voltaic radiation to estimate warmth stress on the physique — is estimated in the course of the World Cup to vary between 19C and 23C (66F and 73F) and in cities equivalent to Vancouver and Seattle to shut to 29C in cities together with Dallas, Houston and Miami throughout afternoon intervals, though precise on-field circumstances will range relying on climate, kick-off instances and stadium environments.

By comparability, estimated WBGT values derived from publicly accessible climate information throughout the 2024-25 Premier League season have been typically a lot decrease, averaging round 10C, with most match circumstances falling between roughly 6C and 13C. Even the most well liked estimated circumstances throughout the season peaked at round 24C.

Alongside these environmental calls for, groups may additionally face flights of 4 to 6 hours and time-zone shifts of as much as three hours between matches.

The fixture schedule makes this tangible. Which route a staff takes via the event shapes the precise mixture of calls for they’ll face.

England’s potential routes via the event illustrate how environmental and logistical calls for might shift relying on outcomes.

Winning the group may, counterintuitively, produce a extra demanding pathway — each in distance travelled and environmental variability — doubtlessly involving a round-of-16 match at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, round 2,240 metres above sea stage, adopted by a quarter-final in Miami, the place imply WBGT values are 28.5C — among the many highest of any venue within the event.

Finishing as runners-up, in the meantime, retains England at decrease altitude and in additional thermally moderated environments — passing via Toronto, one of many coolest venues within the event, a climate-controlled stadium in Dallas, and a quarter-final in Los Angeles, the place a midday kick-off at SoFi Stadium’s open-sided translucent-roof venue would characterize essentially the most uncovered match setting on that pathway earlier than the ultimate, although nonetheless inside extra reasonable thermal limits than southern venues equivalent to Miami or Houston.

The runners-up route would nonetheless contain substantial journey and a number of time-zone transitions — a reminder that in 2026, a extra thermally forgiving path doesn’t essentially imply a much less demanding one.

For Scotland, a comparatively steady group stage — two matches in Boston, a base camp in Charlotte, and a closing group sport towards Brazil within the Miami warmth — may very well be adopted by sharply completely different calls for relying on the place they end.

Win the group and the route heads to Houston, the place exterior warmth stays excessive regardless of matches doubtless being performed in a retractable-roof stadium, earlier than returning to New York, with warmth remaining a doubtlessly persistent thread all through.

Finish second and the trail swings south-west into Mexico, with a late-night match in Monterrey kicking off at 3am UK time — the place imply WBGT values traditionally attain 28.4C, among the many highest of any venue within the event, and the place a two-hour time-zone shift from Charlotte provides an additional layer of disruption — earlier than looping again via Houston and Boston.

Depending on the pathway, Scotland’s path to the ultimate may contain roughly 12,500 to 18,000 kilometres of journey throughout only a handful of matches, every presenting a distinct mixture of warmth, journey, restoration calls for, and preparation challenges.

Co-hosts the United States provide one other clear instance of how sharply the calls for of the 2026 event can diverge relying on group-stage outcomes.

A west-coast group stage — with matches in Los Angeles and Seattle and a base camp in Irvine, California — may see them play a lot of the event in environments the place imply WBGT values sit typically round 20-24C, effectively beneath the degrees recorded at southern venues equivalent to Miami, Houston, Dallas and Monterrey, notably in the event that they win the group and proceed via Seattle, the Bay Area and Los Angeles earlier than travelling east for the semi-final.

Yet the 2 pathways inform very completely different logistical tales. A winners route — staying largely on the west coast till the semi-final — would cowl round 15,600 kilometres, modest by event requirements.

A runners-up pathway is a distinct proposition totally, with potential journey distances approaching 28,000 kilometres earlier than the ultimate — almost twice as far — assuming the staff returns to their base camp after every knockout match, with repeated long-haul spherical journeys between Irvine and cities equivalent to Atlanta and Kansas City spanning a number of time zones. In 2026, a extra thermally forgiving route doesn’t essentially imply a much less demanding one.

So what does this complexity truly imply for groups getting ready for 2026?

Speaking anonymously to guard relationships, a efficiency director main one of many high nations on the 2026 World Cup framed these trade-offs like this: “Everything is manageable with good planning, but that planning requires prioritisation; you can’t hit everything.

“You need to focus on the challenges teams are most likely to face, while maintaining flexibility for those that are less certain. It’s all about planning travel, heat strategies, cooling, and preparation beforehand to acclimatise. When you set good strategies and get the whole team on the same page, nothing is insurmountable.”

Simplicity as a method

Despite the complexity of the 2026 World Cup, worldwide tournaments typically reward simplicity somewhat than attempting to regulate all the things.

Reflecting on France’s 2018 World Cup-winning marketing campaign after the frustration of shedding the Euro 2016 closing on dwelling soil, Didier Deschamps was quoted on FIFA.com as saying: “Before that final defeat to Portugal, I built the whole thing up and focused on the emotional side. Here, in Russia, I changed my focus and kept it simple.”

That identical philosophy of simplicity is usually echoed throughout essentially the most profitable nationwide groups. For former Croatia nationwide staff physician Bahtijarevic, the basics nonetheless matter most. “Do the basics, the simple things well and minimise change,” he stated. “Ask the player: ‘How do you feel? How did you sleep? How did you eat?’ No blood measure or technology has ever come close to these basics.” In his view, worldwide soccer is “a place of minimum interventions for maximum impact”.

Making advanced environments really feel easy begins with the employees across the gamers. Across my conversations with gamers, one theme emerged repeatedly: the significance of readability, familiarity, and belief within the folks round them.

Former France defender Bacary Sagna, who competed at two World Cups, believes the health coaches “will play a big part” in 2026. “They will plan the training, prepare the players to go hard and fast for 20–25 minutes, recover, and then go again,” he stated, reflecting on the doubtless impression of warmth and cooling breaks.

Bacary Sagna (centre) stresses the significance of the connection with health coaches (Franck Fife/AFP by way of Getty Images)

More broadly, managing these environments isn’t a person process, however a collective one involving teaching, medical, efficiency, diet, and logistics employees working collectively behind the scenes to maintain gamers bodily and mentally prepared all through the event.

Per Mertesacker, who gained the 2014 World Cup with Germany, praised head of efficiency Forsythe, who consistently bolstered the fundamentals in the course of the warmth of Brazil: “Hydration, hydration, hydration, food, food, food.”

Speaking about the identical event, England midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain mirrored on how, as a youthful participant, he “didn’t realise straight away why the science staff were doing what they were doing”, earlier than shortly understanding the significance of hydration, cooling, and restoration as soon as uncovered to the circumstances.

England’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain coaching on the 2014 World Cup (Ben Stansall/AFP by way of Getty Images)

With expertise, he stated, “players become increasingly aware of what works for them and what doesn’t”, studying the way to adapt their routines and behaviours to the calls for of event soccer.

The 2026 World Cup will convey a novel mixture of environmental and logistical challenges — however that uncertainty and unpredictability are additionally a part of what makes a World Cup so compelling.

For these watching, the results are sometimes refined however seen. Games can sluggish as warmth, journey, and fatigue construct throughout the event, with small errors showing later in matches, and further time inserting even larger pressure on gamers bodily and mentally.

In a event outlined by complexity, the benefit might go to those that greatest handle uncertainty whereas conserving issues easy. As Forsythe put it: “You’ve got to have a big toolbox of options” — and for 2026, that toolbox might must be even greater.