With England’s group games kicking off at 21:00 and 22:00 BST, and Scotland’s as late as 02:00, football fans across the UK are drawing up battle plans to survive the 2026 World Cup without losing their jobs. The tournament, spanning the US, Canada and Mexico, has already prompted some to book annual leave around potential knockout fixtures. Others are betting on flexible working – later starts or working from home after late-night matches.
Scotland fan Cameron Rae, who works in a garage, has taken a more direct approach. “I booked the Monday off a while ago,” he said. “We’re open as normal, so I probably wouldn’t get away with flexible working.” Rae plans to watch his team at a Tartan Army fan zone at his local town hall, complete with a bar and DJ running until 4am.
“Fans and bosses prepare for the 2026 World Cup as late kick-offs threaten workplace productivity and prompt ‘sickie’ fears.”
Fellow Scotland fan Krys Kujawa, a business analyst, thinks he can manage without days off – just about. “Haiti is early Sunday morning so there’s still all of Sunday to recover,” he said. “Morocco is late Friday night so you can just stay up and sleep in on Saturday. Brazil is the difficult one – that’s coffee-your-way-through-work territory.”
Scotland has declared a one-off national bank holiday on 15 June to celebrate the national team’s first World Cup appearance since 1998. All NHS Scotland staff and Scottish government employees are entitled to the day off. Local councils can opt in or out, and private businesses are not legally obligated to close. Kujawa said he would have “preferred the Bank Holiday after the Brazil match”, calling the current timing “a bit of a buzzkill” with work the next morning.
Unions and employment experts have warned businesses to prepare for a surge in so-called “World Cup sickies”. BrightHR, which monitors absences across more than one million UK employees, predicts at least 1.5 million workers will call in sick during the tournament, resulting in more than 2.3 million additional sickness absences. Research by workforce management company UKG suggests the World Cup could cost UK employers around £681m in lost productivity.
One company hoping to avoid the sickie epidemic is Birmingham-based digital agency Pull the Pin. Founder Sam Hufton has expanded the firm’s flexible working policy. “As a keen football fan, I’ve reminded everyone that if they want to watch a game and start a bit later, that’s fine, all we ask is that they’re transparent about it,” he said.
Pubs will be allowed to stay open until 01:00 BST for knockout matches kicking off between 17:00 and 21:00, and until 02:00 for those between 21:00 and 22:00. Whether employers prove as accommodating as the licensing laws remains to be seen.