FIFA is banning an essential fan item for World Cup games in Kansas City
We’ve already gotten a taste of the heat that is coming this summer.
Temperatures haven’t been awful, but the humidity has made it feel miserable at times as the calendar is about ready to turn to summer. Warmer weather is probably coming, and it could be toasty when the World Cup matches are being held at Kansas City Stadium (née Arrowhead Stadium).
That’s why soccer fans were outraged to learn FIFA will no longer allow fans to bring an empty bottle into games.
The Athletic’s Adam Crafton and Matt Slater reported that FIFA contacted World Cup ticket holders and said their fan code of conduct has changed. Now, “reusable water bottles are no longer permitted at the FIFA World Cup 2026 stadiums,” the Athletic story said.
In a May 12 story, the Athletic noted water bottles were explicitly allowed, and it quoted the code of conduct: “For the avoidance of doubt, empty, transparent, reusable plastic bottles, up to [1 liter in] capacity, may be brought into the Stadium.”
The language now banning bottles is nearly the same.
The code of conduct says: “For the avoidance of doubt, reusable water bottles may not be brought into the Stadium.”
FIFA cited safety as the cause for the change.
“FIFA made the decision to prohibit bottles to prevent risk and injury to players and attendees,” a FIFA spokesperson told NBC Sports in a statement.
“Outside bottles are already prohibited at several of these venues for safety considerations, and FIFA is applying this consideration across its tournament stadiums.”
Ronan Evain, the executive director of Football Supporters Europe told the Guardian, said FIFA’s argument doesn’t, well, hold water. Fans could bring water bottles into last year’s Club World Cup in the United States.
“If they allowed it last year and originally for this tournament then I find the security argument a bit hard to believe,” Evain told the Guardian. “It shows water is unfortunately still seen as a commodity but it’s not, it’s a matter of health. We don’t know how expensive a bottle of water will be inside the stadium because no prices have been published.”
That would include prices inside Kansas City Stadium. But we know it could be hot.
According to the website, Extreme Weather Watch, here is the average high and low temperature in Kansas City on the dates of the six matches scheduled here. Temperatures are in degrees Fahrenheit.
June 16: 84.3/64.5
June 20: 85.2/65.4
June 25: 86.1/66.4
June 27: 86.4/66.8
July 3: 87.3/67.5
July 11: 88.3/66.5
The good news is each match will be played between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. and not in the middle of the day when the heat is the worst.
However, the Club World Cup last year was plagued by complaints of heat from the players and FIFA instituted water breaks in each half.
That won’t help those in the stands, of course. Evain said FIFA’s decision will could literally hurt fans, especially those coming from countries that don’t see temperatures as hot as in Kansas City.
“It’s a real health risk,” Evain told the Guardian. “In Europe we see people collapsing in the stands from heatstroke more and more often. So it’s a very simple mathematics issue: the more you complicate the access to water, the more the risk of people getting serious heatstroke and dehydration.
