European clubs will make a last-ditch effort on Tuesday to persuade Fifa against moving the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to November but the tournament appears destined for winter regardless.With European clubs increasingly resigned to a winter tournament, their focus is expected to shift to trying to secure concessions, including a shortened World Cup with a shorter preparation period and fewer international friendly dates in that calendar year.
The European Clubs Association and the Association of European Professional Leagues favour a tournament running from 5 May to 4 June, when they argue that temperatures would be cool enough to protect players without throwing the domestic season into chaos.
But the direction of travel towards a November tournament has been long set and has been the favoured option in Zurich ever since Fifa admitted that the tournament could not be played in the searing summer heat of June and July.
The other option on the table – January/February 2022 – would overlap with the 2022 Winter Olympics and the International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach, has repeatedly said that he has an agreement with his Fifa counterpart, Sepp Blatter, to avoid a clash.
That leaves November 2022, wrapping up in time for players to return to England for the Christmas programme, as by far the most likely option.
The date is expected to be recommended at the end of Tuesday’s meetingin Doha, before the Fifa executive committee votes on the switch next month.
Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, the Asian confederation president from Bahrain who is chairing the task force looking into the issue, has made no secret of the fact that November/December remains Fifa’s choice.
“The matter is resolved. The period best suited for hosting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be in November and December because for sure it needs to be played in the winter,” he said last month.
The task force was set up in November 2013 amid a backlash from clubs, broadcasters and other sports against Blatter’s apparent determination to announce a decision without any prior consultation. One major sticking point appears to have been solved in typical Fifa fashion with the decision to award the TV rights to the 2026 World Cup to Fox and Telemundo in the US and Latin America.
US broadcasters had been among the most strident critics of a move to winter due to the potential clash with other sports and it has been widely speculated that the decision to award Fox an extension to its existing deal without a tender could be linked to it dropping opposition to a winter switch in 2022.
The Premier League’s chief executive, Richard Scudamore, who sits on the task force and is expected to be in Doha on Tuesday, has been a vocal opponent of the move to winter.
The Premier League is publicly sticking to its stance that the controversial vote in December 2010 was for a summer World Cup. “The 2022 Fifa World Cup was bid for and awarded to Qatar as a summer tournament,” it said in a statement on Monday. “The prospect of a winter World Cup is neither workable nor desirable for European domestic football.”
Qatar 2022 organisers have insisted throughout that they are ready to deliver a summer World Cup in air-conditioned stadiums but are equally happy to switch to winter if asked to by Fifa. A string of assessments, from Fifa’s original evaluation reports before the December 2010 vote to the opinion of Fifa’s chief medical officer, have warned it would be too much of a health risk to play in June and July.
Jim Boyce, Britain’s Fifa vice-president, said: “If it’s going to be in Qatar, then let’s agree on a date in the winter and look forward to a wonderful World Cup there because you cannot possibly take people there to play it in the summer.”
The choice of the tiny Gulf state has proved endlessly controversial due to human rights concerns, the oppressive heat and concerns over the manner in which the bid was won.
By Owen Gibson, Guardian