FIFA Look to End Winter Olympics Feud after Ruling Out January/February 2022 World Cup

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has confirmed the 2022 World Cup will not be staged in January or February and Qatar will solely host the event after suggestions a co-hosted tournament could be considered.

The Gulf state are expected to stage the most prestigious tournament in world football during the winter for the first time in the event’s history due to concerns about the extreme heat in June/July.

On Friday, Blatter ruled out a January-February World Cup and said the only alternative to a summer tournament would be November-December in 2022.

“In January, February, these are the Olympic Winter Games,” he said.

“It’s out of the respect to the Olympic organization, the Olympic family..secondly, we have together with the Olympic, the IOC, practically the same media, television and marketing partners and we cannot have two competitions in the same time.”

“It is logical to play this competition at the end of the year,” he added. “At the end of the year, it will be November-December. I don’t know exactly the dates, but could be from 10th to 10th whatever.”

Blatter also confirmed Qatar will solely host the tournament.

“The decision of the FIFA is to play in one country and that will be in Qatar,” Blatter told a news conference after meeting the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

He denied that he had suggested that co-hosting was a possibility, implying that it was a misunderstanding that arose during a news conference in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

“I was just touring a little bit here, I was in Iran and I was in United Arab Emirates and it came up, the question came up, ‘Can we share the World Cup with Qatar?’ I just took the questions, but I did not answer,” he added.

“I just want to tell you that when we took the decision for the World Cup 2002 when we played in two countries with difficulties, it was (South) Korea and Japan.

“We have decided to never go in two countries, even less so to three, if one country is able to do so (stage the tournament).”

Blatter also played down fears regarding workers’ rights in Qatar following the revelation that dozens of Nepalese workers have died in the country this year.

“Received full report from authorities & BWI (Building & Wood Workers International) union on efforts to improve working conditions,” he said.

“I really encourage people to see these efforts to improve working conditions themselves, before forming opinions.”

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