UEFA Members Back Qatar 2022 World Cup Switch to Winter

September 19, 2013

Europe’s football governing body UEFA are set to support switching the 2022 World Cup in Qatar from summer to winter it has been revealed.

Europe’s 54 football nations met on Wednesday and agreed the change would be necessary. They are set to give UEFA president Michel Platini a mandate to take to FIFA.

FIFA chief Sepp Blatter has already announced his support for moving the tournament to winter, but his board will decide on the issue at a meeting next month.

FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce said: “There were certain reservations regarding the World Cup in Qatar but everyone agreed that it would be impossible to play in the severe heat of Qatar in the summer.”

“What the member associations want to see at the FIFA ExCo in October is that a task force is set up for everyone involved in Qatar to sit around the table and come up with the best solution with the minimum disruption.

“They all agreed to take thousands of fans to the greatest sporting event in the world in the middle of the summer would be just impossible.

“It’s very important we get this right, it’s very important that everyone involved has a meeting, the people with their concerns as well but it is most important is that we have a World Cup where spectators can go and enjoy themselves.

“At the end of the day, the best interests of football have to be sorted out and I am very confident that will be done. It’s purely a one-off.

After the UEFA meeting in Dubrovnik, Croatia, Scotland FA chief executive Stewart Regan said: “There is a belief that playing it in summer would not be proper for players, for spectators and for broadcasters and media partners.

“The mood of the meeting was very much supportive of pulling it forward to the beginning of 2022,” Regan said, adding that member countries would “have discussions with their respective league bodies”.

Estonia Football Association President Aivar Pohlak said UEFA had “quite clear” support for agreeing the switch as a one-time option for football’s signature tournament.

“As an exception and that is it. As a one-time problem it can be handled, in my view,” Pohlak said.

Belgium football federation president Francois de Keersmaecker told The AP: “It seems the 2022 World Cup can’t be played in the months of June and July.”

Platini will announce UEFA’s position in the winter debate after further meetings with his strategy council and executive committee on Friday. The strategy panel includes representatives of Europe’s top leagues, which have been the fiercest critics of altering the traditional August-to-May football season.

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