{"id":60119454,"date":"2026-02-05T12:04:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T12:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/?p=60119454"},"modified":"2026-02-12T14:03:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:03:36","slug":"football-in-sun-and-without-shadow-how-extreme-heat-puts-tomorrows-stars-at-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/football-in-sun-and-without-shadow-how-extreme-heat-puts-tomorrows-stars-at-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Football in sun and without shadow: How extreme heat puts tomorrow\u2019s stars at risk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was 33C when, during a day of trials for Paraguay\u2019s Cerro Porte\u00f1o youth team, a 16-year-old collapsed. He was one of hundreds who had arrived on 21 November 2025, dreaming of playing for one of the country\u2019s most popular sports institutions. He suffered a cardiac arrest<\/a> and had to be saved by the club\u2019s medical staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano called football, not only the most popular sport in the world, but \u201cthe music of the body, the festival of the eyes\u201d. It is a beloved hobby of hundreds of thousands of children and teenagers worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But extreme heat is putting their well-being at risk. Researchers, coaches and scientists are now racing to find solutions, ranging from early warnings and awareness campaigns to banning synthetic pitches that trap heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heat in the home of the world champions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The adult game is also struggling with heat. High temperatures in the United States for the 2024 Copa America forced the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) to redraw its protocol<\/a> for medical staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A report<\/a> published last year by Football for Future warned that 14 of the 16 stadiums due to host games at this year\u2019s men\u2019s World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the US exceed \u201csafe-play thresholds\u201d for climate hazards, including extreme heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a CATCH story<\/p>

This story is part of Dialogue Earth\u2019s work on the Community Adaptations to City Heat (CATCH) project, in partnership with Boston University. The project is funded by Wellcome. All Dialogue Earth content is editorially independent.Read more stories from CATCH.<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But children are known<\/a> to be more vulnerable to heat than adults. In 2023, all summer youth sports matches in Paraguay were suspended<\/a> between 10am and 5pm due to high temperatures. In Argentina, several local leagues made similar decisions, postponing<\/a> games due to the heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suspensions in these two countries occurred during a heatwave made 60 times more likely<\/a> by climate change. One of the places affected was the city of Rosario in Argentina, home to a club where two world champions, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, played: Newell\u2019s Old Boys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coordinator of Newell\u2019s youth divisions, Gustavo Tognarelli, believes the impact of heat \u201cis not yet on the agenda in our institutions” and more clubs need to take it seriously. Tognarelli oversees more than 400 children and adolescents playing for the club and says that the summer heat in Argentina is \u201cdifficult\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the latest Lancet Countdown report<\/a>, the Latin American region has experienced an increase of hundreds of hours per year, as compared to 1991-2000, during which walking and running pose a health risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe impact is noticeable in training. It\u2019s not the same for a child who trains at eight in the morning as it is for another who trains at ten,\u201d Tognarelli told Dialogue Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recent trend towards synthetic turf pitches has complicated things, he says. They hold up better on rainy days, but \u201cgenerate much more heat on the pitch\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"group<\/div>
Many stadiums due to host games at this year\u2019s men\u2019s World Cup are likely to exceed \u201csafe-play thresholds\u201d for climate hazards, according to researchers. Hydration breaks, such as this one during a club match in 2025, may not be enough to keep players safe (Image: Sportimage \/ Alamy)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Iv\u00e1n V\u00e1zquez, director of the youth divisions at Club Olimpia in Paraguay, is even more emphatic: \u201cSynthetic turf pitches should be banned here. The temperatures can hurt the children\u2019s feet, causing burns when they fall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to training, a constant challenge for youth teams is children having to play on the same day on the same pitch due to infrastructure and transport issues. This can necessitate some children playing during the hottest part of the day, creating problems for complying with guidance on heat exposure put out by health officials and football federations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ariel Ram\u00edrez, media coordinator for Conmebol, which governs professional football of all ages in South America, says it \u201ccontrols high temperatures in its tournaments through strict medical protocols that include monitoring humidity and ambient temperature with specialised equipment\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drinks breaks are mandatory above certain temperatures, along with pre-match medical examinations, acclimatisation and education on heatstroke. This protocol also applies to youth tournaments. It was in force when the 16-year-old collapsed in Paraguay last November. But application can be patchy. A 2018 study<\/a> warned that ambulances were consistently absent during training sessions and youth matches in Paraguay\u2019s local leagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children at risk<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Conmebol originally developed its protocol for the 2016 Copa Am\u00e9rica in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Successive football tournaments in the Americas have drawn criticism for their approach to extreme heat. The organisation had to update and broaden its protocol for the 2024 Copa Am\u00e9rica, also in the US, in response to growing evidence on the impact of playing in summer conditions. Despite the new protocol, a referee collapsed in that tournament during one of the nine matches played in dangerously hot conditions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gregory Wellenius, a researcher on climate change and environmental health at Boston University School of Public Health, points out that in youth football, the challenge goes beyond having protocols, controlling schedules and playing surfaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t really know the long-term impact of exposure to extreme heat on children<\/blockquote>Gregory Wellenius, Boston University<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Cities such as Boston, which will host games at the next World Cup, have protocols and alerts for extreme-heat situations. But these are \u201cdesigned for the general population\u201d and \u201ccertainly not children and young footballers\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChildren are not small adults; they are thermodynamically different. They sweat differently, and sweating is the mechanism humans have to cool the body,\u201d Wellenius explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Places that historically did not have high temperatures face greater problems in adapting their infrastructure, Wellenius says. \u201cWhat may be common in Houston or Central America is not so common in cities like Boston, which used to be cooler and now experiences heat waves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to physiology and infrastructure, Wellenius believes it is essential to remember that children are also \u201cless likely to know when to stop\u201d when they get too hot in competitive environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full impact of heat on children and adolescents is still unknown. \u201cWe don\u2019t really know the long-term impact of exposure to extreme heat on children,\u201d says the researcher. \u201cWhat happens to their bodies if they are constantly under pressure from high temperatures?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adapting at home \u2013 and in the stands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Philip Jenkins, one of the lead authors of the Football for Future report on the perils of the coming World Cup, says: \u201cOur analysis shows that by 2050, extreme heat in stadiums will become the new normal, with almost 90% needing to adapt to cope.” The report focussed on stadiums hosting this and the next two World Cups as well as grassroots stadiums linked to World Cup legends, such as those where Lionel Messi and Pel\u00e9 began their careers. In some of these stadiums, football matches and training will be severely disrupted by extreme temperatures by 2050, for as many as two months per year, the report found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"boys<\/div>
In some tournaments, children end up playing during the hottest part of the day, making the health impacts of heat something that needs to be tackled urgently (Image: Miguel Lopes<\/a> \/ Flickr<\/a>, CC BY ND<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Faced with this \u201cnew normal\u201d, coaches and researchers say there is no silver-bullet solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cooling breaks and leaving behind synthetic turf pitches in favour of natural grass could help. But more broadly \u201cthe region needs to develop early-warning systems for extreme heat\u201d says Francisco Chesini, a public health researcher at the University of Buenos Aires and part of the Global Heat Health Information Network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such systems are already implemented<\/a> in countries including Spain, where local-level forecasts and temperature thresholds trigger a comprehensive response from authorities and health officials. The United Nations launched an initiative<\/a> in 2022 for a worldwide adoption of early-warning systems by the end of 2027. Paraguay already aims<\/a> to develop one as part of its climate policy, pending funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is still a long way to go to raise awareness of the need to invest in infrastructure,\u201d says Tognarelli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, he adds, \u201cIt is an investment, not an expense. Our role must be to protect and provide comprehensive training for these children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wellenius says adapting is not about eliminating risks but about empowering people to make informed decisions. There is an untapped opportunity, he says, to use football communities not only to protect children and adolescents in sport, but also to advance understanding and the need for public policies on heat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople know that heat is a problem, but they don\u2019t think it\u2019s their problem,\u201d he says, \u201cIt is not enough to issue general alerts in the media or on social networks in the event of extreme temperatures. This information must be strategically communicated to those who have the trust of others in these communities, such as mothers and coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as the music of the body and the festival of the eyes, football may also have the power to change minds on climate risks and the need for action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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