Efficacy of the FIFA cooling break heat policy during an intermittent treadmill football simulation in hot conditions in trained males.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) cooling break policy against alternative cooling configurations in attenuating thermal strain during simulated football in the heat.

Methods: 12 males (age: 27±6 years, V̇O_2peak: 61±7 mL/kg/min) completed five 90 min intermittent treadmill football match simulations in 40°C and 41% relative humidity (32°C wet-bulb globe temperature) with different cooling configurations: regular match without cooling breaks (REG), 3 min breaks without cooling (BRK_no-cool), 3 min breaks with cooling (BRK_cool: current FIFA policy; chilled fluid ingestion and ice towel across neck and shoulders), 5 min extended half-time without cooling breaks (ExtHT_only) and 3 min cooling breaks with 5 min ExtHT (ExtHT_cool). Rectal temperature (T_re), heart rate, whole-body sweat rate (WBSR) and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded. Data are presented as mean (95% CIs).

Results: Final T_re was lower in BRK_no-cool (0.20°C (0.01, 0.39), p=0.038), BRK_cool (0.39°C (0.21, 0.57), p<0.001) and ExtHT_cool (0.40°C (0.22, 0.58), p<0.001) than REG (39.1°C (38.8, 39.3)). Mean T_re was lower in ExtHT_cool (38.2°C (38.0, 38.4)) than BRK_cool (38.3°C (38.1, 38.5), p=0.018), BRK_no-cool and ExtHT_only (38.4°C (38.2, 38.6), p<0.001) and REG (38.5°C (38.3, 38.7), p<0.001). Mean heart rate was lower during BRK_cool (6 beats/min (4, 7), p<0.001) and ExtHT_cool (7 beats/min (6, 8), p<0.001) compared with REG. WBSR was comparable across trials (p≥0.07) and RPE was attenuated during BRK_cool (0.4 (0.1, 0.7), p=0.004) and ExtHT_cool (0.5 (0.2, 0.7), p=0.002), compared with REG.

Conclusion: BRK_cool and ExtHT_cool attenuated thermal, cardiovascular and perceptual strain during a simulated football match in the heat. Additional strategies may be required in field settings or under harsher conditions.