Qatar 2022 is going to be unlike any previous World Cup. Even though it will be the first World Cup played in a northern hemisphere winter of November and December, due to the searing heat in the Persian Gulf during the tournament’s usual slot of June and July, the matchday temperatures experienced by players and supporters will still be consistently hotter than ever before.
Fixtures staged in the afternoon in Qatar are expected to be played with temperatures around 91-93 degrees Fahrenheit (33-34 degrees Celsius), while even those that kick off at 10 p.m. local time are likely to be played at around 79 F (26 C) and humidity above 60%.
There have been high temperatures at previous World Cups, of course. At Brazil 2014, the United States played Portugal in an evening game in Manaus at 84 F (29 C) and 70% humidity, while the USA ’94 clash between Mexico and Republic of Ireland in Orlando kicked off at midday when the pitch temperature was 120 F (48 C). It was so hot that day that the Irish players wore white baseball caps during the prematch national anthems in an attempt to minimise the effects of the punishing Florida sun.
But those games were just examples of the extremes. In Qatar, it is going to be hot and oppressive at every game, although the much-heralded air conditioning inside the stadiums could have a positive effect for spectators and players.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)
So what are the physical challenges going to be like for those players who are heading into the biggest tournament of their lives? How hard will it be to perform to their best in such high temperatures?
Last month, ESPN was invited to experience some of the physical and psychological stresses that players will have to endure in Qatar during a session at the Porsche Human Performance Centre at the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit in England. With the insight of Precision Fuel & Hydration, a sports science company working with one of the European teams competing in Qatar, I had to go through a 45-minute workout on a treadmill in a heat chamber in conditions replicating those that the players will have to overcome at the World Cup.
The object of the exercise was to highlight the physiological response to the physical activity, endurance and heat, and how they combined to affect my heart rate, core temperature and RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion.) As well as assessing my fluid levels and a post-workout sweat test to measure the level of salt in my blood.
And it was tough. Now I am a 40-something sports reporter who does maybe a couple of gym sessions a week and spends too much time sat down in a car or at my desk, so I am hardly the kind of physical specimen that you will see pushing the boundaries in Qatar. But even for elite footballers, the conditions will test their fitness and levels of preparation.
– Ogden: How ready is Qatar to host the World Cup?
– World Cup 2022: News and features | Schedule | Squads
“The conditions in Qatar for the group stage are forecast to be over 30 C (86 F) and about 60% humidity, so it is on the hotter side of what players in northern Europe normally experience at this time of year,” Jack Wilson, lead sports scientist at the Porsche Human Performance Centre told ESPN. “That is pretty much the sort of temperatures you were exposed to in the heat chamber, which gives you a good comparison of what it will be like.
“But if you are going to be competing at 30 C (86 F), what impact is that going to have? Basically, the players will be trying to optimise their physical and mental performance in spite of environmental conditions that are a lot more challenging than what they typically experience, especially at this time of year. And as we saw from your heat session data, one of the threats to optimal physical and mental performance will be that extra burden that’s placed on your cardiovascular system — your heart, your lungs, your circulatory systems — when you exercise in the heat.”
Put it this way, if I was a footballer playing out the closing stages of a game in that kind of physical condition, you wouldn’t want me having to concentrate on marking an opponent at a set-piece or taking a crucial penalty.
“If you’re active at 30 C (86 F) and you start to generate heat when you’re exercising, you can’t offload it as efficiently, so your core body temperature rises faster at a greater degree and there are a number of downstream effects of that that makes exercise more challenging,” Wilson said. “One will be those rises in heart rate and cardiovascular demands and that comes as a result of your cardiovascular systems having to supply blood to your working muscles to aid with nutrients and oxygen supply.
“But in the heat, your body also has to divert a lot of blood to the periphery, to your skin, to aid in sweat loss because that’s the main means by which we cool ourselves down in the heat. So you have these two very large areas of the body competing for blood supply which causes your heart rate to increase relative to what you’d expect it in the U.K. temperature.
“If you have data from the Premier League matches over the past week and compare that to the heart rate of players out in Qatar, you’d expect their heart rate to be much higher as a result of the heat stresses they’ll be exposed to and that in itself makes exercise feel a lot harder.”
