Host-nation Qatar deemed too hot for summer tournament.Europe’s elite football clubs look set to accept a proposal for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar to be played in the winter instead of the traditional summer, according to Sky Sports.
There have been concerns for some time that the considerable heat in Qatar during the summer months would be highly unpleasant and even potentially dangerous for many of the players to be playing in as they will not be accustomed to such extreme temperatures.
The European Clubs’ Association (ECA) will meet in Geneva on Tuesday to back the move, but hope that this break from tradition will be a one-off, with all future tournaments to continue to be played in the summer.
However, this has not gone down well with FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who believes this gives European countries an unfair advantage in hosting the major tournaments, as places like Qatar can never hope to host a tournament in the summer.
The Swiss accepts that the tournament should be moved to the winter on this occasion, and believes that should be a possibility in the future as well, regardless of potential disruption to the club season.
“If we maintain, rigidly, the status quo, then a FIFA World Cup can never be played in countries that are south of the equator or indeed near the equator,” he said. “We automatically discriminate against countries that have different seasons than we do in Europe.
“I think it is high time that Europe starts to understand that we do not rule the world anymore, and that some former European imperial powers can no longer impress their will on to others in faraway places.”