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End-2022 Qatar World Cup dates signal huge disruption

DOHA — The 2022 World Cup is on the brink of being moved to the winter following the final meeting of the task force set up by football’s world governing body FIFA to explore such a switch.

DOHA — The 2022 World Cup is on the brink of being moved to the winter following the final meeting of the task force set up by football’s world governing body FIFA to explore such a switch.

The tournament in Qatar looks set to be staged between the end of November and Christmas — and shortened by half a week — pending final approval by FIFA’s executive committee next month.

“There is one solution: November to December 2022,” FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said after yesterday’s meeting in Doha.

Sheikh Salman Ebrahim Al Khalifa, head of the task force that examined moving the event from June and July because of the extreme summer temperatures in the Gulf state, also reiterated that November to December was his preferred option.

That was in defiance of opposition from European clubs and leagues — including the English Premier League — which had been pushing for a May-to-June switch.

Sheikh Salman confirmed that all options would be reviewed by FIFA’sexecutive committee next month, but it appears all but inevitable that a World Cup at the tail-end of 2022 will be approved.

“I think the recommendation is towards November/December, but there are other options,” Sheikh Salman said.

“Some people have concerns, but whatever decision you’re going to take will have some questions about it. We need to look at the overall benefit of everybody.”

A FIFA statement said the task force recommended “end-November/end-December as the most viable period for the 2022 World Cup”.

It added: “The outcome of the discussions is also a proposed reduction (in the number of) competition days, with the exact dates to be defined in line with the match schedule and number of venues to be used for the 22nd edition of football’s flagship event.

“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 from March 19 to 20.”

A switch to the winter will involve a complete overhaul of the fixture calendars of about 50 countries around the world.

It would also force clubs and competition organisers in those countries to decide whether to fight the FIFA decision legally or seek compensation for the disruption caused.

If not, it would allow the game’s governing body to put to bed one of the biggest issues thrown up by the most controversial award of a major sports event.

FIFA ignored serious concerns about the heat in Qatar, where summer temperatures regularly exceed 40°C, when handing the staging of the World Cup to the tiny Middle East country in December 2010.

Allegations of serious corruption over that vote have emerged since then. They merely compounded the controversy over the choice of host from a bidding process in which there was no suggestion of the 2022 tournament being staged in the winter.

FIFA’s statement also revealed that the task force had discussed staging the 2021 Confederations Cup in another Asian confederation country during the traditional June-to-July window and using another FIFA competition such as the Club World Cup as the operational test event for Qatar 2022 from November to December 2021. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

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