Fans watch a live screening of the opening match Brazil vs Croatia of the 2014 World cup in Brazil June 12, 2014 in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
On Wednesday morning, Argentina, the defending champions, secured a 3-0 victory over Algeria in their opening Group J match of the 2026 Fifa World Cup. Victor Otieno was among the millions of fans watching this early-morning match. Played at Kansas City Stadium in Kansas City, the match saw Lionel Messi score his first-ever World Cup hat-trick—a performance that kept Otieno awake until dawn.
Eager not to miss a moment of the action, the football enthusiast revived a trick he used during his high school days. After eating dinner at around 9.30pm, he immersed his feet in a basin of cold water to keep himself awake. Even then, staying awake proved challenging. By the time the match kicked off at 4am East Africa Time, he was struggling to stay awake. This was not the first sleepless night of the tournament for Otieno. Just days earlier, on June 14, he had stayed up late to watch Brazil play Morocco in New York/New Jersey, a match that started at 1am.
Otieno is one of thousands of football fans in East Africa who find themselves at a crossroads where the excitement of the World Cup collides with the realities of sleep, work and daily survival. The Spain supporter says that the timing will affect how fans experience the tournament.
“Football is more enjoyable when people watch it together. The problem is that many of these matches are played when everyone is asleep,” he said.
He believes that people may be forced to abandon the communal viewing culture that has become synonymous with major football tournaments. “How can you call your friends at 4am to watch football with you? Most people will end up watching alone at home,” he added. Despite the inconvenience, he says he won’t miss any of Spain’s matches. “The World Cup only comes around once every four years. I will adjust my schedule and find a way to watch,” he said.
Unlike the 2022 edition in Qatar, where the match schedules aligned perfectly with East African time, this year’s event in the US, Canada, and Mexico is forcing people to stay up late or get up early to watch their favourite teams play. The big tournament, featuring 48 teams and 104 matches across 16 cities, is being played across multiple North American time zones. This means that many matches are taking place at inconvenient times for viewers in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
While some games will kick off at favourable times such as 7pm, 8pm, 10pm and 11pm East African Time, others are scheduled for 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am and even 7am, forcing fans to choose between football and sleep. For many football fans, this has taken away one of the biggest pleasures of the World Cup: the chance to watch as many matches as possible with friends.
Germany supporter Philip Oyoo says that the timing of the tournament has disadvantaged East African fans. “The World Cup comes once every four years, and every football fan wants to watch as many matches as possible. But how can you watch a match that ends in the morning when you have to report to work?” he said.
Oyoo says he enjoyed following the 2022 World Cup because the games were played at times that were more convenient.
“You could watch football after work and still get enough sleep. This year it will be different. Some matches are scheduled at times when people should be preparing for work,” he said.
One such game is Tunisia’s Group F match against Japan on June 21, scheduled to start at 7am EAT. “Unless you are self-employed or working from home, it will be difficult to follow all the games,” he said.
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