On June 6, 511 soccer players gathered in Miami Beach to beat a Guinness World Record. But they weren’t alone. On that day, more than 5,000 people across the United States, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, and the United Kingdom juggled a soccer ball in unison for 10 seconds.
The record-breaking, multi-city feat was organized by Where Football Lives, a global environmental campaign focused on protecting future generations of soccer players from extreme weather and climate change.
“Soccer belongs to everyone: to the kids playing in the parks of Miami, the communities gathered around a screen in Kansas City, and the volunteers keeping grassroots teams alive all across the U.S.,” Jenna Lamb, the U.S. Director of Where Football Lives, said in a press release.
“But extreme heat, flooding, wildfires, and poor air quality are putting all of that at risk.”
As climate change accelerates, extreme weather has been flooding soccer fields and causing temperatures to skyrocket, severely restricting the amount of time children can safely play outside.
According to Where Football Lives, youth sports families are already feeling the impacts of climate change.
Image courtesy of Tomás Diniz Santos / Getty
Parents across the U.S. estimate that their children lost an average of one full week of practices or competitions in 2024 due to extreme temperatures, wildfire smoke, flooding, and unpredictable winters.
“Throughout my career, I’ve felt firsthand how the climate crisis is shifting the ground beneath our feet,” said Ali Riley, one of New Zealand’s most well-known professional soccer players. “Playing in suffocating heat isn’t just about a drop in performance — it is a serious health hazard.”
“While professional players have medical staff and cooling breaks, kids training on exposed neighborhood pitches have no protection,” she continued. “If we don’t act to safeguard our local fields, we are taking away the very spaces that shape the future of our game.”
Image courtesy of Tomás Diniz Santos / Getty
Laura Biondo, a Venezuelan football freestyler and world champion, also took part in the record-breaking event.
“I’ve been fortunate to break multiple world records in my career, but this one feels different,” said Laura Biondo, a Venezuelan football freestyler and world champion.
“To be part of a global moment like this, here in Miami, one of the most heat-exposed World Cup host cities, and to help protect the places where football lives, is incredibly special.”
Image courtesy of Tomás Diniz Santos / Getty
Proceeds from the global initiative will support upgrades to grassroots soccer sites across the U.S. and Mexico, enabling them to better withstand extreme heat, cold, and flooding.
Additionally, the organizers teamed up with the U.S. Soccer Forward Foundation and Football for Future, to launch “adaptation tool kits,” which are designed to help youth soccer communities around the world adapt to extreme weather.
On the day of the event, Lamb emphasized the importance of timing the global synchronized action just five days before the World Cup kicks off.
“We all love the game, but we also need to be safe, and it’s going to be one of the hottest World Cups on record, and Miami is already set to be one of the hottest cities, as they don’t have air conditioning,” she explained.
“We love the game — and it’s a vibrant community — but we also need to be safe and protect the game.”
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Header image courtesy of Tomás Diniz Santos / Getty (cleared for editorial use only)
