What happens to England fans in the pub if Mexico World Cup match goes beyond 5am
England fans face being kicked out of pubs if tonight’s clash against Mexico goes into extra time and penalties after the weather delay.
The game had been set to kick-off at 1am UK time on Monday (6 July) morning, but that was delayed to a 2am BST due to ‘adverse weather’ in Mexico City.
In a statement, FIFA said: “Due to adverse weather conditions in Mexico City, including risk caused by lightning in the vicinity of the stadium, the kick-off of the World Cup 2026 round of 16 match between Mexico and England has been delayed to 19.00 local time (21:00 EDT).
“The safety and security of all individuals is Fifa’s priority. We thank all fans for their understanding and co-operation.”
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Last week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer gave pubs permission to stay open until 5am, meaning fans could enjoy the game in their local.
However, after FIFA announced the delay this morning, there are concerns that if there’s an additional delay due to the weather or a pitch invader, and the game goes to extra time and penalties pubs will have to close before the end of the match.
If lightning is detected again within eight miles of the stadium the game would need to be paused, with play not allowed to resume until 30 minutes has passed since the last lightning strike.
If another strike is detected during those 30 minutes, the clock resets and the countdown begins again.
Elsewhere in the tournament, we’ve already seen the Germany versus Paraguay game dragged out for two hours and 58 minutes, and it was a similar story for the Australia versus Egypt game, which lasted two hours and 52 minutes.
One bar manager told the Press Association that he will show ‘as much’ of the game as he can but he’s tied by licensing laws.
Lewis Haywood, assistant manager at Bristol-based brewery Bristol Beer Factory, said: “We will be open until 5am tops.
“If it (was delayed) to 3am then we’ll show as much as we can but then we would need to close.
“This is what’s annoying, they (FIFA) knew they could have done it at 7pm our time. It’s not too bad, it’s a bit annoying, but people are still in good spirits.”
He added: “Licensing is only until 5am. We’ll do last orders at 4.30am so if it does go to penalties or anything like that then there’s not much we can do really. So we’ll see what happens.”
Over the weekend, it had been hoped that the game would be moved forward six hours to a much more UK-friendly time of 7pm BST due to forecast bad weather.
However, FIFA then confirmed that the original time hadn’t changed and kick-off was still set for 1am BST.
Mexico’s weather service said there would be an 80% chance of thunderstorms at 5pm local time (12am BST), and a 60% chance at 6pm (1am BST) and right on cue, the heavens opened prompting FIFA to issue the delay.
Alongside the heavy rainfall, Thomas Tuchel’s team will be put to the test as Mexico City sits 7,349 feet (2,240 metres) above sea level - and they haven't had time to adapt to the altitude.
England coach Tuchel previously pointed out that this gives Mexico 'a huge advantage', but said it's just something they are going to 'have to deal with'.
Claire Reid