The 2026 World Cup kicked off on Thursday night with the match between Mexico and South Africa. While the opening game was thrilling and exciting, US television viewers missed certain moments of the match. Consequently, the US broadcaster ‘Fox Sports’ has faced accusations of violating FIFA regulations regarding the timing of commercial breaks during play. Under FIFA’s new rules, a three-minute hydration break is mandated midway through each half of the match.

Although this break allows players to cool down, it also offers broadcasters a rare opportunity to air commercials before halftime. Shortly after Raul Jimenez doubled Mexico’s lead in the 67th minute, the referee blew the whistle for the second-half hydration break. Fox Sports immediately cut to a commercial. While FIFA has not published official rules regarding the specific volume of advertising for broadcasters, ‘The Athletic’ reports that all broadcasters received instructions stating that commercials could only begin 20 seconds after the referee blew the whistle for the break, and that coverage must resume at least 30 seconds before play restarts. Allegations suggest that by the time Fox Sports returned to the broadcast, play had already resumed (in the 71st minute).

In other words, they failed to return 30 seconds before the restart as required. When the referee blew the whistle for the hydration break during Jimenez’s goal celebration, Fox continued showing the match for 33 seconds (exceeding the 20-second minimum threshold) before cutting to commercials. The total commercial break lasted 1 minute and 54 seconds, which was within the allotted time; however, the delayed decision to switch to commercials—caused by the goal celebration—disrupted the entire sequence. Play resumed at the 70-minute-10-second mark, yet when the broadcasters returned to the feed, the scoreboard displayed 70 minutes and 18 seconds.