2026 FIFA World Cup Faces Potential Delays Due to Summer Weather and Lightning

As the World Cup is set to get underway on Thursday as Mexico hosts South Africa , we'll be starting to get into the heat of summer in North America. Adjusting to the temperatures will be one thing for teams coming from cooler climates, but that won't be the only potential weather concern that teams will face. Five stadiums hosting World Cup games have roofs, so those won't be counted in this listing. Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Vancouver, and Los Angeles will all feature covered environments, but for the others, they may experience something that comes with the heat of summer in North America: thunderstorms.

Soccer is a rain-or-shine sport. Snow games with the high-visibility ball are some of the best matches to watch, so a little rain isn't going to stop play, especially given how well World Cup pitches drain water. But lightning is another story and has already reared its head during friendlies, with Saudi Arabia's match against Puerto Rico in Austin, Texas, being paused for almost two hours.

These stoppages also happened during the FIFA Club World Cup in the summer of 2025, with coaches stating that it felt like a different game after the stoppages due to losing momentum due to the long layoffs.

The Chelsea vs. Benfica match last summer at the Club World Cup was delayed for an hour and 53 minutes, and it was stopped in the 86th minute. The game went to extra time and in total lasted more than four hours.

When are matches stopped?

If lightning is detected within eight miles of an outdoor stadium, the game must be stopped for at least 30 minutes. During that time, a countdown begins, and if lightning strikes within the eight-mile radius during that time, the clock restarts, and that cycle continues until the lightning has passed.

When long delays happen, players then need to go through a warm-up period before the game can continue, which can lead to further delays. In extreme cases with late-night matches, the delays can cause the match to be completed the next day, although with tight turnarounds for the World Cup, that could make things complicated, logistically, with the travel that is expected to take place during the tournament.

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_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/how-summer-weather-and-lightning-delays-could-disrupt-fifa-world-cup/)._