How does altitude affect the World Cup teams?

Some of the stadiums are at a fairly high altitude, while others are not:

Whoever wins the tournament will have switched from altitude to sea level and back again at some point.

The key message for the World Cup, then, is that teams need to take into account transition, acclimatisation and tactics. Players will need to adapt to changes in altitude, especially the effect this has on the flight of the ball. Teams that use high altitude to their advantage - or that are already used to switching from low to high altitude - will profit. That points to a win for a South American team.

Read the full article at New Scientist.