Gary Neville, Ian Wright, and Roy Keane have joined calls for FIFA to address the controversy surrounding hydration breaks during 2026 World Cup games. The protocol was introduced at the Club World Cup last year to ensure players do not become dehydrated. With temperatures reaching sweltering levels during the tri-nation North American tournament, the policy was kept in place. However, with advertising breaks and tactical reshuffles now commonplace, spectators are becoming increasingly frustrated with the impact it is having on the sport. By dividing the first and second halves of 45 minutes into four quarters of 25 minutes apiece, comparisons have been made with the NFL and NBA.
Player and Pundit Reactions
Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk made his feelings clear on the change after their 2-2 draw with Japan, saying 'it really something that I like'. Elsewhere, fans and pundits are uniting in their opposition to the 'stealth advertising' that has resulted from the break in play. While it was initially designed for protecting player welfare, it has provided another opportunity for broadcasters to monetise the games they cash in on with millions of viewers tuning in across the world.
Overlap Show Discussion
Speaking on Sky Sports' The Overlap show, Manchester United icons Gary Neville and Roy Keane agreed with England hero Ian Wright that the hydration break has been 'blatantly' misused. Neville urged FIFA to 'stamp' on the issue after spotting head coaches use the three-minute period as a tactical timeout. 'I think FIFA are going to have to act quite quickly now,' Neville said. 'I think if it's a drinks break, there is going to have to be an element of: the coaches have got to stay on the bench, you can't bring tactics boards out. I think there was one game they actually had a screen where they showed a set-piece! And then there was a tactics board up.' He added: '[It's] effectively a mini-half-time, four quarters. I am surprised it's not been stamped on pretty quickly, and I think it is a stealth advertising break.'
Responding to Neville, Wright added: 'There's nothing stealth about it, it's blatant.' Keane argued that the product of football has been affected greatly, to the extent that people are switching off from the game altogether during the breaks. 'They've covered it by saying it's a hydration break. But even that, people will have different arguments about why they love different sports,' the Irishman said. 'We love football because of the pace of the game. You don't want to go to the toilet, you might miss something! Other sports you go, 'listen we can go out, we might not miss much'.'
Keane continued: 'But these breaks... what it's doing, it's stopping the flow of the game, the momentum; teams are losing momentum, sometimes they're gaining. And you're kind of doing that anyway with goalkeepers going down. And the problem is the other night the weather was lovely. It was a lovely cool evening, particularly the second half, and the game you were thinking 'there's a bit of momentum, you can smell something here'. And sometimes it comes on the back of a player being injured, so you've waited two or three minutes for a player to get treatment, the game kicks off and they go 'oh no, we have a hydration break'. It's stop/start, loads of little petty fouls. But these drink breaks... before the competition, I was saying 'do you know what, we have to look after the players, they're not robots.' I get all that. But there was a bit on the TV [in America] the other night, they called it the time-out. They classed it as a time-out. The game now is like four quarters.'
Broadcast Controversy
In the World Cup opener between Mexico and South Africa on June 6, Fox's coverage pivoted to a TV advertisement that overran its segment time, meaning its viewers missed out on some of the live action from the game. In doing so, the U.S broadcaster broke FIFA's strict guidelines for showing adverts during hydration breaks. However, FIFA reportedly accepted their explanation that it was unaware that referee Wilton Sampaio had directed the players to head off the pitch earlier than expected after Raul Jimenez scored Mexico’s second goal of the game. As a result, The Guardian reported they will not face any punishment and FIFA declined to comment.
