Tournament likely to be staged between November and January.
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FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke has today confirmed the intention of staging the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in the winter according to reports in the Daily Mail.
Jerome Valcke has been given the task of looking possible alternative dates for the 2022 World Cup to take place in, with a summer tournament in Qatar seemingly ruled out and during a radio interview in France he stated;
‘It will not be in June or July. Frankly I think it’ll be played between November 15 and January 15 at the latest.’
‘If you play between November 15 and the end of the year that’s when the weather is at its most favourable.’
Following the revelation FIFA has been quick to state that no official decision has been made on the matter, though clearly having a high ranking official making such statements go some way to muddying the waters on the issue.
FIFA moved to put out a press release stating;
‘Secretary General Jerome Valcke explained today in the Radio France interview – as he had already mentioned previously – that in his view the 2022 FIFA World Cup must take place in winter and the best possible time frame would be 15 November to 15 January.
‘However, the precise event date is still subject to an ongoing consultation process which involves all main event stakeholders, including both the international football community (FIFA, confederations, member associations, leagues, clubs, players) as well as FIFA’s commercial partners (commercial affiliates and media rights licensees).
‘As the event will not be played until eight years’ time the consultation process will not be rushed and will be given the necessary time to consider all of the elements relevant for a decision.
‘Consequently, no decision will be taken before the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil as agreed by the FIFA executive committee.’