{"id":2746,"date":"2026-06-05T06:26:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/2746\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T06:26:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:26:43","slug":"fifa-bars-world-cup-fans-taking-refillable-water-bottles-into-stadiums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/2746\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA bars World Cup fans taking refillable water bottles into stadiums"},"content":{"rendered":"

CORAL GABLES, Fla (AP) \u2014 FIFA has made a late change of policy to bar World Cup<\/a> fans from bringing refillable water bottles into the tournament\u2019s 16 stadiums across North America including some with limited or no shade from the sun.<\/p>\n

The \u201cStadium Code of Conduct\u201d<\/a> update was criticized Thursday by an English fan group, which argued FIFA had given assurances on carrying empty plastic bottles to fill with freely available water at a tournament where heat and extreme weather<\/a> are expected to be a factor.<\/p>\n

\u201cNaturally, the immediate thought from supporters is this is just the latest money grab,\u201d the Free Lions fan group said<\/a> in a statement.<\/p>\n

Water, sodas and juices sold at World Cup stadiums<\/a> are supplied exclusively by long-time FIFA sponsor Coca-Cola when the tournament starts next Thursday.<\/p>\n

Andrew Giuliani, who is the executive director of the White House Task Force for this year\u2019s World Cup, said conversations are ongoing with FIFA about the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly understanding that fans with bottles \u2014 if anything is frozen there, they can throw that, utilize it as a weapon,\u201d Giuliani said to a group of reporters, including The Associated Press, Thursday at a World Cup kickoff event in Miami. \u201cThat\u2019s something, frankly, that we are still in discussions with FIFA about. They made their announcement yesterday, so I don\u2019t want to comment on it just yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

FIFA President Gianni Infantino was also at the event in Miami beach Thursday evening but did not take questions from reporters.<\/p>\n

Giuliani added there is a balance between preparing for hot temperatures and monitoring security risks. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstanding these games are going to be very hot. We want to make sure that fans have access to water, so that way they can be hydrated,\u201d he said. \u201cWe also want to make sure that everybody is safe and that people can\u2019t bring a weapon in there. So those conversations are still ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n

FIFA\u2019s stadium rules had stated that fans could bring in a transparent, reusable bottle up to one liter, or 33.8 oz. capacity.<\/p>\n

The latest document dated Tuesday now states \u201cfor the avoidance of doubt, reusable water bottles may not be brought into the stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn all of our discussions,\u201d the England fans\u2019 group said, \u201cfree water availability in stadiums was a key one and we were assured by FIFA that this would be the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement Thursday, the world soccer body said the decision to prohibit bottles \u2014 which could be thrown \u2014 was \u201cto prevent risk and injury to players and attendees.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFIFA is committed to protecting the health and safety of all players, referees, fans, volunteers, and staff,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

FIFA said some of the 16 stadiums had already prohibited fans from bringing water bottles, so the policy would apply across them all.<\/p>\n

With temperatures at 32 Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) and above expected in many of the U.S., Mexican and Canadian cities hosting the 104 games, FIFA said \u201cheat mitigation\u201d for fans approaching stadiums would include \u201cmisting stations, fans, hydration stations, cooling tents, and more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInside the stadium footprint, pricing for water bottles for the FIFA World Cup 2026 will remain consistent with other events held at each stadium,\u201d the soccer body said.<\/p>\n

FIFA has reacted to expected heat in some outdoor stadiums by enforcing three-minute drinks breaks<\/a> midway through each half at all games. Critics have said turning all games into four quarters was to create more breaks for broadcasters to sell advertising.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor all of the effort they are going to with \u2018drinks breaks\u2019 for the players, this is such a strange, late change,\u201d the Free Lions fan group said of the water bottle ban.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Sports Writer Alanis Thames in Miami Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP World Cup coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CORAL GABLES, Fla (AP) \u2014 FIFA has made a late change of policy to bar World Cup fans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1958,167,185,16,1557,62,113,6],"class_list":["post-2746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world-cup-2026","tag-andrew-giuliani","tag-england","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-gianni-infantino","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}