FIFA admits hydration breaks may not continue after World Cup criticism

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Asked at a news conference on Saturday whether he has seen any data showing that the three-minute mandatory interval midway through each half improves players’ abilities and the flow of the game, Wenger said: “No.” “Sometimes people didn’t like it, and we have to analyse after the World Cup what is the impact,” the former Arsenal manager told reporters. “It didn’t look to me that it changed the results of competition. But we are here to serve people who watch football, and we’ll come to conclusions after the competition.” His non-committal statement at the New York New Jersey Stadium that will host the final between Argentina and Spain on Sunday stood in contrast with his praise for other changes that FIFA introduced at the tournament. For example, Wenger and other panellists from FIFA’s Technical Study Group lauded the rule to require players who request medical intervention to leave the pitch for one minute. According to FIFA, the new regulation decreased the number of medical interventions from 2.3 times per match in 2022 to 1.6 in this tournament. “There is an element in this impact of the rule that is not measurable – that is the frustration you feel when somebody is lying on the field and is not injured,” Wenger said. “I asked so many people what they think of the impact, and everybody was so positive about it.” But when it came to the hydration break, the FIFA official said fans have misgivings. “In some games, especially where the stadiums were covered, people were not happy with it. But at the start of the competition it was decided to do it for everybody,” Wenger said. “Medically it was needed in many games. We have not come to a conclusion yet, but I promise you, we will get one.” Before the World Cup, referees were able to order a hydration or cooling break during matches where it was hot, but it was their decision to make, not a rule. Moreover, the pause lasted about 90 seconds versus the full three minutes at the ongoing tournament. The official justification for the break is to protect players from the heat, but the rationale made little sense in matches played in air-conditioned stadiums or when the weather was cool. For example, during the Egypt-Iran match in Seattle at the group stage, it was around 16 degrees Celsius (60 degrees Fahrenheit), but the players still had to pause for three minutes in each half. “If they do a hydration break tonight, that’s going to be really funny because it’s actually very cold,” Egyptian fan Roger Antoine told Al Jazeera before that match. Throughout the tournament, many fans complained about the mid-half interval and mocked it. They speculated that it was implemented to allow broadcasters to insert commercial breaks and push football towards the model of American sports that are built around TV advertisements. During the USA opening game against Paraguay in Los Angeles, where the stadium is covered, one steward referred to the match segments as “quarters” due to the hydration breaks. One of the main complaints about the hydration break is that it may change the dynamics of the game, taking the wind out of the sails of the dominant team and allowing the other side to reset mentally and tactically. Several teams have conceded almost immediately after the hydration break. “There’s clear evidence, if you just look at the numbers, of momentum being completely swung the other way as soon as the hydration break happens, and that’s just not the way football has been played for 200 or so years,” Cesar Espino, a football fan in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera earlier this month. 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