The 2026 World Cup final can do much more than just make you cheer in front of the screen. Scientific evidence shows that these high-tension matches also raise heart rates, increase stress levels and can even put extra strain on the cardiovascular system. Now, a recent German study offers one of the most detailed snapshots of how fans’ bodies react before, during and after a decisive match.
The researchers found that fans’ physiological stress increased by about 41% during a football final compared to that on any normal day. The heart rate also rose significantly, from an average of 70.9 to 78.7 beats per minute – a difference that remained even when compared to other weekends.
The results, published in Scientific Reports, come from a study in which researchers from the University of Bielefeld tracked 229 fans of the German club Arminia Bielefeld using smartwatches. For nearly three months, the devices continuously recorded their heart rate and an estimated stress index based on heart-rate variability. The duration allowed researchers to compare the data registered on the day of the 2025 German Cup final to the days leading up to the match.
A Celebration That Begins Before the Game
The study demonstrated that the body experiences the match well beyond the actual play time of 90 minutes; the process begins in the morning, well before kickoff, and remains elevated even after the match. With the German Cup final, the physiological reaction kicked in much before the match started – stress levels began to rise in the morning and peaked just before kickoff, between 6pm and 8pm.
Where you watch the World Cup final also makes a difference. The study found that fans who attended the stadium had an average heart rate of 94.2 beats per minute, compared to 79.4 among those who watched the match on television. After their team’s first goal, those in the stands reached an average of up to 108 beats per minute – a much more intense response than that observed in other contexts.