Published on 6/23/2026
The match between France and Iraq in the World Cup, on Monday evening, was temporarily stopped due to the risk of thunderstorms, while the French team was ahead by an unanswered goal at the end of the first half.
The organizers decided to evacuate the stands of Lincoln Financial Field in the American city of Philadelphia, after heavy rain fell and a thunderstorm approached the vicinity of the stadium, which prompted the referee to suspend the confrontation and send the players to the locker rooms to wait for the weather conditions to improve.
According to the protocols adopted in the United States, any match is suspended immediately after a lightning bolt is detected within a circle with a radius of about 13 kilometers from the stadium. The stop continues for at least 30 minutes, and the period will be recalculated again when any additional lightning strike is recorded during the waiting period.
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Although the World Cup is organized under the supervision of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), the protocols for dealing with weather conditions remain primarily subject to local authorities in the United States, without direct intervention from the International Federation in the details of implementing these procedures. However, the protocol is in line with the principle of “the safety of players, referees, the public, and all elements of the game,” which is affirmed by the Football Law and FIFA regulations.
According to the FIFA regulations for the tournament, his role is limited to determining some weather-related situations, such as stopping periods or mechanisms for dealing with stadiums with closed roofs. Article 20 of the regulations stipulates that “if the match begins with the roof open and then there is a significant deterioration in weather conditions, the referee has the right, in consultation with the match director from FIFA, to issue a decision to close the roof during play,” provided that it remains closed until the end of the match, with the condition that no person be present inside the field when it is opened or closed.
However, this clause does not apply to Lincoln Financial Field, which hosts the France-Iraq match, because it does not include a retractable roof, an option that is still under study as part of future development projects for the stadium.
On the other hand, the US National Weather Service recommends taking strict precautionary measures when forecasting thunderstorms, including the possibility of postponing or canceling matches, or moving them to closed stadiums when available. The authority also deploys field teams in the host cities to monitor the development of weather conditions in real time, allowing quick decisions to be made regarding stopping matches, evacuating stadiums, or resuming play.
In the end, the final say on the conduct of the World Cup matches rests with the FIFA Match Director, in his capacity as the highest representative of the body during the event, as he makes the decision, in consultation with the local authorities and the match referee, whether to stop the match temporarily or postpone it to a later time.
The French team had finished the first half ahead thanks to the goal of its captain, Kylian Mbappe, who scored his fifteenth international goal in the match during which he celebrated playing his 100th match in a “Roosters” shirt. Mbappe is the current all-time top scorer for the French national team, with 59 goals.
This incident brings to mind what the United States witnessed during the 2025 Club World Cup, when bad weather caused six matches to be officially stopped or postponed due to storms and lightning.
One of the most prominent of these cases was the quarter-final confrontation between Benfica and Chelsea, which extended for more than four hours after a long pause imposed by thunderstorms. Despite Chelsea’s control over the course of the match, Benfica managed to equalize through Argentine Angel Di Maria in stoppage time, before the English team settled the confrontation in their favor with a score of 4-1 after extra time.
This suspension angered Chelsea coach, Italian Enzo Maresca, who criticized the impact of these interruptions on the conduct of the matches, saying: “This is not football. I understand the safety reasons, but when this number of matches are stopped repeatedly, questions must be raised about the suitability of the place to host the tournament.”
He added: “We played an excellent match for 85 minutes, then we had to wait for two hours. When we returned to the field, the match was completely different after it had lost its rhythm.”
Despite his understanding of the importance of safety measures, Maresca wondered about the large number of these cases compared to other major tournaments, saying: “How many matches are stopped in the World Cup or the European Championship? Maybe nothing, so there is a problem that must be thought about.”
About a year after that incident, the match between France and Iraq became the first match in the 2026 World Cup to be stopped due to weather conditions, in a new reminder of the challenges that weather conditions may impose on competitions held in the United States.
