Words: Jeff Cross
When the FIFA World Cup 2026 kicks off on 11 June, the world’s attention will be fixed on players, goals and outcomes on the field. But behind every match is an invisible factor that can determine whether athletes perform at their peak and whether fans stay healthy. That factor is environmental hygiene.
Mass gatherings on the scale of the World Cup bring millions into close contact across shared spaces, creating known risks for infectious disease outbreaks. Among the most persistent threats is norovirus, a highly contagious gastrointestinal illness with a documented history at large international sporting events.
Dr Gavin Macgregor-Skinner, senior director at ISSA, says the scope of the 2026 tournament alone demands heightened attention.
“The FIFA World Cup 2026 begins on 11 June 2026, with 48 national teams, 104 matches and over five million spectators in 16 stadiums across the US, Canada and Mexico,” Macgregor-Skinner says. “But those people have to stay somewhere.” He notes that teams, staff and fans will move through hotels, airports, training facilities, transportation hubs and public venues far beyond stadium walls. From a cleaning and public health perspective, every one of those environments matters.
“These are the best of the best coming to our country,” Macgregor-Skinner says. “They depend on us having controlled environments that support their respiratory function, neurologic processing, hydration and recovery, all the things that allow them to stay at the top of their game.”
Macgregor-Skinner emphasises that cleaning in this context is not simply housekeeping, it is public health infrastructure. He points to past outbreaks tied to major sporting events, including the postponement of a hockey game at the 2006 Winter Olympics due to norovirus, as well as documented gastrointestinal illness outbreaks at FIFA tournaments in Germany, Japan and Qatar.
Norovirus, he says, presents unique challenges. “It can last on hard surfaces, soft surfaces and laundry for up to two weeks and remain infectious,” Macgregor-Skinner says “You can’t clean the way you normally clean. You have to clean and disinfect in a very special way to inactivate or destroy the virus.”
Dr Rebecca Bascom, a medical doctor with Penn State, underscored the importance of coordinated preparation across the entire value chain. “My alert would be: let’s take this on as a community,” she says. “The people who make the cleaning chemicals, the people who distribute them, the facility managers and the cleaning professionals all need to come together, so we have best practices and are prepared to respond to an outbreak and restore safety.”
Both experts say that one of the most common misconceptions involves hand hygiene. Alcohol-based hand sanitisers, while useful for many pathogens, are not effective against norovirus.
“The CDC states that for norovirus, you must wash hands well with soap and water,” Macgregor-Skinner says “Alcohol-based hand sanitiser alone does not work.” Proper handwashing, he explains, requires time, friction, soap and water, not a quick squirt while heading to a match.
As the tournament approaches, he stresses that visible cleaning alone is not enough.
“Visible cleaning is not evidence,” he says “Cleaning without measurement is guessing.”
The challenge now is education and training. “This is not assumed knowledge,” Macgregor-Skinner says “This is learned knowledge, and there’s a lot of training to be done before 11 June.”
For the cleaning industry and public health professionals alike, the message is clear: Protecting performance and public health at the World Cup begins long before the opening kickoff. Access the full feature article: FIFA World Cup 2026 and Cleaning for Performance.
This article first appeared in CMM.
