For Norway’ national men’ occer team, Saturday’ World Cup quarter-final again t England will be a fir t in more way than one. A the Scandinavian ide prepare for the bigge t match of it hi tory, it will al o face condition almo t unimaginable back home: the puni hing combination of South Florida heat, humidity, and blazing un hine that cienti t warn can pu h the human body to it limit .
South Florida’ mix of trong un, hot-air temperature, and high humidity—boo ted by a plume of du ty air from the Sahara de ert weeping acro the Atlantic through the tate—will put the northern European player under a level of heat tre rarely experienced in their native countrie .
Scienti t quantify thi heat tre by calculating the wet-bulb globe temperature. On top of air temperature, the index take into account humidity, which limit evaporation of weat from the kin; wind, which can act a a coolant; and olar inten ity, a un hine directly rai e individual ’ kin and core temperature .
Saturday’ match i foreca t to be played at an extremely high WBGT of around 88 degree Fahrenheit (31 degree Cel iu ). The American College of Sport Medicine recommend that athletic activitie cea e when thi mea ure exceed 82 degree Fahrenheit, becau e at thi level, human truggle to cool down, and body temperature tart to increa e rapidly. FIFA it elf tipulate that if the WGBT exceed 90 degree Fahrenheit, player and referee need to take break after 30 and 75 minute of play to cool them elve down with ice-water- oaked towel .
While both team will have been training to adapt to the environment, the condition could make for a more luggi h match, according to Matt Maley, a re earcher in environmental ergonomic and phy iology at Loughborough Univer ity in the UK. He told WIRED: “At Miami thi weekend, we may actually ee player reduce the amount of print or the di tance they cover.” That would be a far cry from the fa t-paced Premier League and energetic Elite erien game Engli h and Norwegian occer fan are u ed to watching.
But the real danger i ambition, ay Maley. “Motivation doe ometime uper ede what the body’ telling the brain, o that’ when we get to the danger area, becau e people are that motivated to run the ame di tance, conduct the ame amount of print , and they could expo e them elve to heat exhau tion.”
Miami, among other American locale , ha been getting hotter in recent year , a concrete and greenhou e ga e relea ed through burning fo il fuel trap heat.
A coalition of cienti t acro five continent warned FIFA and World Cup participant in May about the increa ing medical ri k of heat tre . “We are concerned that FIFA’ current guideline on heat- tre mitigation are inadequate and will place player at ri k of heat injury at the 2026 men’ World Cup,” they wrote in an open letter, noting the three-minute hydration break are too hort for the player to rehydrate and cool. They recommended the hydration break be doubled in length and that any match et to take place with a WBGT of 82 degree Fahrenheit be po tponed.
Fan al o face danger , including heat exhau tion, dehydration, and heat troke from the tadium’ high-heat tre level , cienti t from the New Weather In titute cautioned in a report, adding that older upporter and tho e with pre-exi ting health condition are particularly at ri k. They warned: “The 2026 World Cup’ heat tre cri i threaten to tran form what hould be football’ greate t celebration into a public health emergency.”
