English fans may be in the late night or early morning next summer if the three lions compete in the World Cup in America, Mexico and Canada. Thomas Tuschel’s team will earn all points from the first five qualifiers of the tournament and will soon secure a spot in the Atlantic.
Officially, England will need one victory and a draw to qualify for the World Cup. However, if Serbia and Albania lost points in advance, England were able to secure their place this month despite playing one qualifier against Latvia on October 14th.
If a team meets expectations and participates in the World Cup, Soccer Fever will definitely get a sense of the country. However, those planning on watching the game from home may be surprised.
As reported in the Daily Mail, matches are expected to take place at 5pm, 8pm, 11pm and 2am at the group stage of the competition. However, this could change following the Club World Cup held in the US last summer.
During that tournament, several clubs and players suffered from the American summer heat, and Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez experienced dizziness due to the high temperatures inside the stadium. The two previous kickoff times at 5pm and 8pm coincide with midday on the East and West Coast, respectively, when the sun reaches its peak.
This could potentially unfold one of two scenarios. Equipment may be scheduled for morning kickoffs in the US, Mexico and Canada. This proves to be advantageous for European audiences. Alternatively, you can delay until the late afternoon and create additional late-night encounters to accommodate that.
Beyond this, public housing requires special permission to remain open Sunday through Thursday through 11pm to Saturday through 12:30am. Such extensions are frequently approved in major tournaments, but it is unclear whether this will apply to games that start at 2am in the UK.
According to FIFA Vice President Victor Montagliani, the exact kickoff schedule for World Cup matches will be decided after the group stage draw on December 5th.
Speaking about the timing of kickoffs at the Leader’s Meeting held in Twickenham, Montagliani explained:
“We have daily conversations with European media and other global media, and that’s all in the mix in terms of what’s the best and which stadiums you can play at 3pm.
“If an actual schedule occurs after a draw, I’ll do my best to make sure that’s taken into consideration. Will all games be completely perfect from the time of kickoff from a TV standpoint? I don’t know.”
