Mexico v England LIVE: Fifa backtrack on World Cup last-16 kick-off change amid storm threat

The Independent understands that England vs Mexico will kick off as scheduled at 1am BST, with no decision ever actually being reached to move it forward.

In contrast, the BBC forecasts that at midday local time – when the prospective new kick-off time is – temperatures would be 4C warmer at 21C but the risk of rain lower at 31%.

The risk of a downpour increases steadily as the afternoon progresses. AccuWeather has a similar reading.

It should also be noted that the Estadio Azteca, unlike many stadiums being used at the World Cup, does not have a roof which covers the whole pitch. Instead, their canopy covers about 80% of all the seats.

With the match, for now, set to kick off at 6pm local time, the BBC details that temperatures will be around 17C with a 59% chance of rain.

However, that percentage increases to 72% by 7pm, when a potential thunderstorm could impact the match and produce a risk of flooding in the area of the Azteca stadium, around 10 miles south of the city centre.

Weather website AccuWeather has a similar forecast: 61% chance of rain around kick-off, though they have the risk decreasing to 44% an hour later.

Their brief summary for Sunday reads: “Cloudy with occasional rain and a thunderstorm later in the afternoon.”

“I would find it disruptive as a player,” Gary Neville told ITV Sport. “Conditions are huge for England, playing at 12pm in Mexico vs playing at 6pm, it’s very different, for our players, it’s worse, let’s be clear.

“It’s a sporting disadvantage to England, there’s a sporting integrity issue here. I’ve never seen a League Two game moved back, Fifa are just willy nilly making it up and moving a game, it feels strange. You can put fan safety at the heart of it, this is a stadium that has had this type of conditions before, they have a procedure to deal with it.

“I was there when my brother was managing Inter Miami. It can be disrupted for an hour, they go underneath, they get shelter. To move a game two days out, I’ve never seen that at any level of football ever.”

Fifa and the Mexican and English football associations are in talks over the scheduled kick-off time, with the consideration of adverse weather and the prospect of flooding in Mexico City.

It is the latest wildcard factor to a game which will be influenced by the impact of altitude on both sets of players, while reports suggested that the time could change from 6pm local time (1am BST on Monday) to 12pm local time (7pm BST).

The kick-off time for England vs Mexico may be staying as it is, according to new reports from Mexico.

A claim by the Mexico team’s correspondent for Televisa – the company that own the Estadio Azteca – is circulating that Fifa have backed down over the fixture change and that kick-off will remain at 1am BST.

Both England and Mexico’s federations are said to be annoyed.

Fifa do have the power to reschedule matches at the World Cup.

The world footballing governing body’s regulations for World Cup 2026 state it has the right to “cancel, reschedule or relocate” matches “at its sole discretion”.

Fifa don’t appear to have to jump through many hoops to get things like this changed, to the potential dismay of its competing teams.

“The information that we have is that the [kick-off] time is going to change,” said Joe Morales, a reporter for Mexican outlet Claro Sports.

“The quarter-final match is going to change this Sunday, it will not be played at 6pm but rather at 12pm. This is the information that we have at the moment, [from] different sources in the Federation and also in Fifa.”

It’s also reported that the schedule change has already been approved rather than just being in the works.

Sources have confirmed to The Independent that the governing body are in ongoing discussions over moving the kick-off time to earlier in day on Sunday due to risk of weather disruption including flooding.

Media in Mexico, citing sources with knowledge of the matter, have suggested the game, which is scheduled to kick off at 1am BST on Monday morning (6pm local time on Sunday) will now start at 7pm BST (12pm local) instead. The BBC are also reporting that they understand the game has been brought forward.

That is because of a significant risk of storms in the area when the match is currently scheduled and Mexico already saw their last-32 match against Ecuador earlier this week delayed due to rain.