Adverts to be shown during World Cup water breaks after Fifa approval | OneFootball

Football's global governing body, Fifa, has given broadcasters the green light to air advertisements during the mandatory water breaks at this summer's World Cup, a decision that marries player welfare with commercial opportunity.

The introduction of three-minute hydration breaks, set to occur midway through each half of all 104 matches, was announced last December.

This measure is a direct response to anticipated high temperatures across North America, prioritising player welfare.

Commercial broadcasters will be presented with two options for utilising these pauses.

They can opt for a split-screen format, which limits advertising to Fifa's official partner sponsors, or choose a full cut-away, allowing for any commercial content.

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There were water breaks during the Club World Cup last year (AP)

Strict guidelines dictate that advertisements must not commence within 20 seconds of the referee signalling the break, and broadcasters must revert to live action more than 30 seconds before play resumes.

While previous FIFA tournaments, such as last summer's Club World Cup in the United States, saw water breaks triggered only when specific heat thresholds were exceeded, this summer's World Cup will feature them uniformly across all games. This ensures consistency throughout the tournament, according to FIFA.

ITV, which is set to share live coverage of the finals with the BBC, has been approached for comment regarding its strategy for these new commercial opportunities.

The tournament is scheduled to kick off on 11 June with Mexico facing South Africa in Mexico City, before culminating in the final on 19 July in New York/New Jersey over in the US.

England have been placed in Group L at this summer’s tournament alongside Croatia, Ghana and Panama.

They will face Croatia first on 17 June in a repeat of the 2018 World Cup semi-final.

Thomas Tuchel’s men will then face Ghana on 23 June before finishing off the group stage by taking on Panama on 27 June.