{"id":624456,"date":"2026-06-06T13:23:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T13:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/624456\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T13:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T13:23:11","slug":"fifa-backtracks-on-plastic-water-bottles-ban-at-world-cup-after-fury-from-fans-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/624456\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifa backtracks on plastic water bottles ban at World Cup after fury from fans | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fifa has again amended its water bottle policy for the World Cup<\/a> in North America, allowing fans to bring in one sealed, disposable 20-ounce (590ml) bottle into stadiums.<\/p>\n

Ticket holders had previously been permitted an empty, transparent and reusable bottle up to one litre but an update earlier this week<\/a> confirmed reusable bottles were no longer permitted.<\/p>\n

The move was criticised by fan groups and scientific experts, who were already concerned about the impact of extreme heat on the welfare of spectators, while the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, called the measure \u201cwrong\u201d and said it was \u201cabout making money\u201d.<\/p>\n

But Fifa has partially backtracked on the heavy-handed policy as a post from the governing body said: \u201cAll fans will be permitted to bring in one, soft, plastic, 20 ounces (590ml), factory sealed disposable water bottle into any Fifa World Cup 2026<\/a> match in the USA and Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heimo Schirgi, the World Cup 2026 chief operating officer, added: \u201cWhat is not allowed are hard-sided resealable water containers, which could pose a safety and security risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans attending last summer\u2019s Club World Cup in the United States had been permitted to bring empty bottles in with them. Water was also on sale at Club World Cup stadiums, at prices between $4 and $6 (roughly \u00a33 to \u00a34.50).<\/p>\n

Fifa had said on Tuesday the ban\u2019s purpose was to \u201cprevent risk and injury to players and attendees\u201d but Starmer told the British radio station LBC on Friday: \u201cIt\u2019s just wrong. And I can\u2019t help but think that it\u2019s about making money.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you can\u2019t bring plastic bottles in but you can buy a bottle of water when you get in the crowd? And then it\u2019ll be expensive. The tickets themselves cost a fortune, far too expensive in my view. So the ticket sales are too high. And this is the wrong policy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fifa has again amended its water bottle policy for the World Cup in North America, allowing fans to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-624456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}