Decision time for FIFA heads: one lightning can ruin the game in 2025, and it can ruin it again in 2026.

2025-06-30 20:00 © Reuters

Yesterday there wasn’t, the day before there was. This is about storms in the USA, and when watching top-level football, you never know what you’ll get – whether you’ll go to bed after watching the match in 2 hours or in 5.

On Saturday, "Chelsea” met "Benfica” in the World Club Cup Round of 16, and we witnessed a problem that FIFA needs to address immediately.

With 5 minutes left until the end of regular time and London’s club leading 1:0, the match was halted. Just five minutes or so, and it would be clear who advances to the quarter-finals.

The referee was signaled to stop the match – a storm was coming towards the stadium, and thunder was heard.

This was the sixth time in this updated World Club Cup that a match has been suspended due to weather conditions. "Benfica” and "Auckland City” teams were the most affected, having found themselves in such a situation twice.

The match between "Benfica” and "Chelsea” resumed after 2 hours. It started at 11 PM Lithuanian time and could have ended around 1 AM or a bit later. This would be a reasonable time to go to bed after watching football, knowing that the tournament is taking place in the United States. However, after a 2-hour break and extra time, as a goal fell into "Chelsea’s” net after the break, the match ended nearly at 4 AM. This is inconvenient for players, whose muscles suffer, for fans, and for journalists who need to review the match.

After such a debacle, "Chelsea” coach Enza Maresca expressed his opinion: "This is not football. This is the seventh or eighth time that matches are being called off here; it’s absurd. I understand safety, but when you need to stop 7 or 8 matches, then this is probably not the right place to host a tournament.”

Next year, the World Football Championship will take place here in the USA. Imagine, you’re intently watching the biggest global sporting event, i.e., the World Cup final, where the score is level in the 60th minute, and it just gets interrupted by lightning. This is a real scenario for the summer of 2026.

It’s lovely that the protocol is taken very seriously; this is sometimes lacking when it comes to the VAR system used in football, the handball rule, but something needs to be done. We need either to adjust the protocol or draw other conclusions, so that in 2026, when the entire world will definitely be watching football, these nonsensical situations do not happen again. It’s hard to find another word than nonsense.

Of course, in this tournament, players face extreme heat, and substitutes have to watch the match in the locker rooms. The stadiums are half-empty, the player presentation is peculiar, but these details can easily get forgotten at the World Championship. The truth is, only such storms, with matches postponed by 2 hours, will really stick in people’s memories. You can’t command the weather, but you can change the protocol.