Shafaq News- Toronto

World Cup 2026 faced its first weather-related disruption after Toronto evacuated and canceled its FIFA Fan Festival because of a lightning risk, hours before Canada’s opening match against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Organizers halted the event while fans were watching Mexico face South Africa in the tournament opener, citing severe weather concerns and the danger of lightning. The cancellation turned weather into an early operational issue for the largest World Cup in history, with 48 teams, 104 matches, and 16 host cities spread across Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

Toronto’s fan festival is part of the tournament’s public viewing program, offering match broadcasts, food, and entertainment through the July 19 final. The city is also hosting six World Cup matches, beginning with Canada’s Group B opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Toronto disruption came amid wider concern over summer weather during the tournament. Weather outlets reported before the opener that the World Cup could face above-normal temperatures, high humidity, thunderstorms, and severe weather across parts of North America during the competition.

Some venues face heat and humidity concerns, while others are more exposed to storms that could affect fan zones, transport, public screenings, training sessions, and matchday operations.

Heat is also a player-safety issue. Experts cited by Reuters pointed to wet-bulb globe temperature, a measure that combines heat, humidity, sunlight, and wind, as a better indicator of physical strain than air temperature alone.

World Weather Attribution also warned that roughly a quarter of matches could be played in conditions exceeding recommended safety limits, while Climate Central research found that climate change has increased the likelihood of performance-affecting heat at 97 of the tournament’s 104 matches.

FIFA has already introduced a tournament-wide measure for player welfare, with every World Cup 2026 match including a three-minute hydration break midway through each half, regardless of venue, stadium roof, temperature, or weather conditions.

The referee will stop play 22 minutes into each half to allow players to rehydrate, with the measure applied across all matches to ensure equal conditions for teams, FIFA said. The match schedule was also designed after technical analysis of venues, including average temperatures, cooling infrastructure, public transport, and security.

The weather issue is not new for FIFA. The Qatar 2022 edition of the tournament was moved away from the traditional June-July window and staged from November 20 to December 18 because of concerns over summer heat in the Gulf. FIFA had recommended the November-December period in 2015, citing cooler conditions, before the tournament became the first World Cup held in the Middle East.

Qatar also used stadium cooling technology during the tournament, according to FIFA, which explained at the time that cooling systems were fitted in seven of the eight Qatar 2022 stadiums. The systems used spot cooling, cooled and filtered air, and venue-specific designs to lower temperatures in areas used by players and fans.