Man City's $80 million rookie, Tijjani Reijnders, admitted that weather conditions are a big challenge. The player said: "It will be very difficult. The tournament has many strong teams and the weather is extremely hot. We are trying to get used to it to be ready for the opening match."
Man City will meet Wydad AC (Morocco) on June 18 in Philadelphia, at midday when the temperature is expected to exceed 30 degrees Celsius. To adapt, coach Pep Guardiola has had his students practice in the sun above 32 degrees in Boca Raton, Florida.
The strong candidate for this year's championship, Real Madrid, also had its first training session here. Coach Xabi Alonso and the players had to use ice cubes and water sprayers to cool their bodies.
For the home team like Inter Miami, Messi Suarez and his teammates are used to the weather in the US, so adapting does not take too much time. However, the high temperature during practice and competition still affects the players' physical strength.
According to the World Football Federation's regulations, when the WBGT temperature (measuring the level of stress due to heat including humidity and movement of the air) exceeds 32 degrees, the matches will have a cooling break between sets. However, this is not enough to ease the concern.
Statistics from Fossil Free Football show that 35/63 matches at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 will take place before 5:00 p.m., and 8/11 stadiumes that host the tournament will not have roofs or only partially covered. Four of them have recorded severe heat waves in the past five years.
Extreme climate conditions are also clearly affecting professional quality. In California, where the temperature ranged around 32 degrees, Atletico Madrid lost to PSG with a score of 0-4 in the early morning of June 16 (Vietnam time).
Atletico Madrid midfielder Marcos Llorente lamented that he could not bear it. However, he also had to admit that this was a general condition that every team participating in the tournament was going through. This player shared: "It was terrible. My nails hurt. But everyone has to play in the same conditions, so we can't sing".
PSG coach Luis Enrique also said that playing at noon was "too much to endure", although this time was suitable for TV prime time in Europe.
The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 is not only focused on expertise but the tournament is also a test of physical strength and endurance, in the context of climate change increasingly directly affecting top-level sports.
