Izuchukwu OkosiEngland are gearing up for a 2026 summer at the FIFA World Cup with plans to use heated tents as part of the training tools to replicate the conditions they could experience.
USA, Mexico and Canada will host the world next summer with temperatures expected to be high.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelWeather forecasts indicate that temperatures at 14 of the 16 stadiums being used for the 2026 World Cup could exceed potentially dangerous levels during the tournament.
Thomas Tuchel and his squad are currently in Girona, Spain for a training camp ahead of Friday’s World Cup qualifier against Andorra and next Tuesday’s international friendly against Senegal at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground.
As part of the training camp the England head coach and the Football Association performance staff will look at how players cope in the extremely hot and humid conditions they could face at the World Cup, the English FA have revealed.
Players will carry out fitness tests inside the tents on exercise bikes, in temperatures they could be expected to face during the tournament, and their recovery will be analysed.
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Speaking last week, Tuchel admitted that he expects his players to “suffer” in the tournament’s conditions and he will travel to the Club World Cup this summer in the United States to assess the conditions.
“It is important to see matches now in America, and in Miami at three in the afternoon,” Tuchel said.
“I will see that. How it looks, and we need to understand how to cool the players down, to drink. What our options are.
“Let’s see because it is after the season, so it will be very similar. The actual experience is for the players, but I have done pre-season there in Orlando and I will be very surprised if we do not suffer. Suffering is one of the headlines for this World Cup.”
England have won their first two World Cup qualifiers under Tuchel and are atop Group K table with six points.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
