FIFA Looks into Different Time Slots for Qatar 2022 Including January World Cup

Soccer’s world governing body FIFA have revealed they are looking into the possibility of staging the 2022 World Cup in January and February despite president Sepp Blatter previously ruling out the idea last year.

A FIFA task force met at the headquarters in Zurich to discuss three possible time slots for the competition which has already come under scrutiny over corruption allegations in the the bidding process.

Qatar was awarded the World Cup on the widely held understanding that it would be staged in the summer despite the searing heat in the country.

Although Qatar has insisted that a summer World Cup is viable thanks to cooling technologies it is developing for stadiums, training areas and fan zones, there is still widespread concern over the health of the players and visiting supporters.

“Discussions centered around the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, and participants were presented with information on the implications of staging the event in winter as opposed to summer, as proposed by the FIFA executive committee,” FIFA said in a statement.

“FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke clarified that, based on the hosting agreement, the FIFA World Cup must be held in 2022.

“The options of January/February 2022 and November/December 2022 were put forward as alternatives to June/July 2022, and initial feedback received.”

Last November, Blatter ruled out a winter World Cup that could clash with the Winter Olympics.

“The FIFA World Cup can only be played in November/December 2022, no way it’s going to take place in January/February,” he told a news conference in Abu Dhabi at the time.

“We have to see how we can have the FIFA World Cup played in winter, but only Nov/Dec are possible.”

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