The hydration break has sparked controversy since FIFA made it mandatory in the 2026 World Cup. The rule states that there will be two breaks around the 22nd and 67th minutes of any game. Each will last three minutes. The steps were taken to combat the extreme heat situations, including the mild days in New York or Los Angeles. However, in the Mexico-Ecuador match, FIFA announced a change.

With the game already delayed, FIFA announced that they will be removing the mandatory hydration break for the particular match. Yet, the referee went on to stop the game. Surprisingly, the official announcement also got removed from the FIFA site, as reported by The Athletic.

“In announcing the delay at the Azteca, FIFA said that as a result, the controversial cooling breaks would not happen during Mexico vs Ecuador. But the referee stopped play with around 23 minutes gone. Players customarily walked to their sidelines. The partisan Mexican crowd jeered briefly before singing ‘Mexico Lindo’ to pass the time. On FIFA’s website, the line that No hydration breaks will take place during this match had been removed from its statement,” The Athletic reported.

A hydration break is not a rare sight in soccer. Last year, the Club World Cup was also held in the US, and it also had hydration breaks, but only beyond a certain temperature threshold. It also enabled the broadcasters to air commercials in the breaks and boost their revenues. However, the Mexico-Ecuador game was already delayed by 60 minutes due to thunderstorms in Mexico City.

The game was pushed back to 8 pm local time. And so, FIFA made the statement ahead of it: “No hydration breaks will take place during this match.”

Honestly, there was no need either.

The temperature was mild at the Estadio Azteca at around 14 degrees with rain. Yet, referee Slavko Vinčić whistled for a hydration break at the 23rd minute. Players walked to their respective sidelines, but the timing of calling break sparked controversy.

Fans call out the referee for his hydration break decision

“Investigate this ref, he d—— called a foul for us when we had the ball. Just to take out our tempo,” one fan shared via X. Fans are left enraged as the hydration break could have broken Mexico’s momentum.

Mexico’s first goal came at 22 minute, and just when the team was taking the ball to the opponent again, a hydration break was called, breaking the momentum.

“25 minutes into the game, this ref already made many retarded decisions,” another user remarked.

Fans are not only enraged about the hydration break call, but also about a few more decisions. In the 23rd minute, Vinčić came in the middle of an Ecuadorian player who was about to recover the ball from the Mexican offense.

“He stopped the game because he stood in the way of an Ecuadorian about to recover the ball, which inadvertently led to the Mexico counterattack. Please stop with this bull—-,” one more agreed.

Maybe the hydration call was taken to stop the error, but again, it contradicted FIFA’s official ruling.

“Actually made my jaw drop, what the actual f—,” one user remarked. “What an unbelievable referee decision! A water break was called during Mexico‘s counterattack! The players look utterly stunned, too!!!  It could have turned into a very dangerous situation!” Another said.

Fans and players both were left baffled, as everyone was aware of FIFA’s ruling. However, we would wait for another official statement from FIFA about what actually happened and why the ruling was removed from their site. As the fans went to cite FIFA’s official statement about no hydration break in this game, the statement was removed from the site. Mexico went on to win the game 2-0. But confusion remained about why the hydration break was taken despite an official ruling.