The world game's governing body have suggested the global showpiece be held prior to Christmas in seven years' time
A FIFA task force has proposed holding the Qatar World Cup in November and December of 2022 with the decision to be ratified next March.
World football's governing body has decided temperatures in the Middle Eastern state will be too extreme in the traditional playing months of June and July, despite this issue being initially raised during the voting process.
FIFA says every confederation has given the green light to shifting the tournament back five months, although it is unknown how this will impact the European leagues with an August-May schedule.
"Following a six-month consultation process, FIFA’s task force for the International Match Calendar 2018-24 held its third and final meeting today in Doha, identifying end-November/end-December as the most viable period for the 2022 FIFA World Cup," FIFA confirmed on Tuesday.
"The proposed event dates have the full support of all six confederations. The proposal will be discussed at the next meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee, scheduled to take place in Zurich on March 19 and 20, 2015.
"The only remaining effective option is the November-December window. For legal reasons, the 22nd edition of the World Cup must be played within the calendar year 2022."
AFC president Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, who led the task force, claimed the best option had been clarified by FIFA.
"We are very pleased that, after careful consideration of the various opinions and detailed discussions with all stakeholders, we have identified what we believe to be the best solution for the 2018-2024 international match calendar and football in general," he said.
"It was a challenging task and I want to thank all members of the football community for their productive input and constructiveness in helping to find a solution that we believe can work for everyone."
FIFA initially insisted during the bidding process that the tournament could be played across June and July, leading to discontent and accusations of corruption when it became clear that such an outcome was an impossibility.
FIFA appointed ex-US attorney Michael Garcia to investigate allegations of corruption, but his full report remains in legal limbo.
No comments:
Post a Comment