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For Norway indigenous football team, Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final against England will be a first in more ways than one. As the Scandinavian side prepares for the biggest match in its history, it will also face challenges unimaginable at home: a punishing combination of South Florida heat, humidity, and sunlight that scientists warn can push the human body to its limits.
The combination of South Florida’s strong sun, hot air temperature, and high humidity-enhanced by the dusty air from the Sahara desert crossing the Atlantic Ocean across the state-will put the players in northern Europe under the level of heat that has not been found in their countries.
Scientists calculate this temperature by calculating the WetBulb Globe Temperature. Above the temperature of the air, the process takes into account the humidity, which prevents the flow of sweat from the skin; wind, which can act as a cooling agent; and solar energy, as sunlight directly raises human skin and core temperature.
Saturday’s game is expected to be played at WBGT with a high of around 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31 degrees Celsius). The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that sports be stopped when the temperature exceeds 82 degrees Fahrenheit because at this level, people have trouble keeping cool and body temperature begins to increase rapidly. Only FIFA it says that if the WGBT exceeds 90 degrees Fahrenheit, players and players must take breaks after 30 and 75 minutes of play to cool down with towels soaked in ice water.
Although both groups have been trained to adapt to the environment, the conditions can lead to sluggish performance, according to Matt Maley, a researcher in ecology and physiology at Loughborough University in the UK. He told WIRED: “In Miami this week, we could see the players slowing down or the distance they go.” This may be a far cry from the fast-paced Premier League and the dynamic Eliteserien English and Norwegian football fans like to watch.
But the real danger is ambition, says Maley. “Sometimes motivation exceeds what the body tells the brain, so that’s when we get to a dangerous place, because people are motivated to run the same distance, do the same races, and they can put themselves in danger because of the heat.”
Miami, among other places in America, has been getting it very hot in recent years, such as concrete and greenhouse gases that are released through fossil fuels absorb heat.
A consortium of scientists on five continents warned FIFA and World Cup participants in May of the health risks posed by heat. “We are concerned that FIFA’s recent guidelines for reducing heat stress are inadequate and will put players at risk of heat injury at the 2026 men’s World Cup,” they wrote in a statement. an open letterrecognizing that a three-minute hydration break is too short for players to rehydrate and cool down. They recommended that hydration breaks be doubled and that any matches held with a WBGT of 82 degrees Fahrenheit be suspended.
Fans also face risks, including fever, dehydration, and heatstroke due to the high temperature of the stadium, scientists from the New Weather Institute. he warned in the report, I added that elderly agents and those with pre-existing medical conditions are at risk. They warned: “The heat problem of the 2026 World Cup threatens to turn what should be the biggest football festival into an emergency.”
