FIFA World Cup starts with record 104 matches across North America

The FIFA World Cup begins Thursday with an unprecedented 104 matches spread across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, Yle reports. The tournament runs from 11 June to 19 July.

Finnish broadcasters Yle and MTV will share coverage. The opening match, Mexico vs. South Africa, airs live on MTV at 22:00 Finnish time on Thursday. The next game, South Korea vs. Czech Republic, starts at 05:00 the following morning on the same channel.

Most matches will fall between early evening and early morning Finnish time, with many overnight. Anu-Katriina Pesonen, a sleep researcher and professor at the University of Helsinki, notes that shifting one’s entire daily rhythm to North American time is manageable if done consistently.

“Continuously disrupting your sleep rhythm is like flying back and forth between time zones,” she says. “If you watch every match, you can adapt, but alternating between nights with and without games is more exhausting.”

Balancing work and matches is possible short-term, she adds, but has a cost. Not all games need to be watched live: “If you live in two time zones at once, you have to be creative about when you sleep. People still need seven to eight hours a night.”