Blatter: 2022 will be in summer
Reuters - Monday 07 February 2011, 09:55
LONDON - The 2022 World Cup in Qatar will
be played in the summer as originally planned and will not be
co-hosted with neighbouring countries, FIFA president Sepp
Blatter said.
Blatter, reiterating comments made by football's governing
body two weeks ago, said there were no plans to stage a winter
World Cup and any request to do so would have to come from the
Qatari hosts who have already said they plan to stage the event
in summer.
"Everything is settled now for summer and with all 64
matches in the territory of Qatar," he told the BBC in an
interview.
"In the bidding documents it was clearly established that
the executive committee reserved the right to change anything in
the bidding process, but here in this case it must come from
Qatar.
"Qatar has not moved for the time being. I think for the
time being this matter is on ice because we have just signed in
the last days the final documents."
Qatar were chosen as hosts in December, winning a contest
also featuring Australia, Japan, South Korea and United States.
Their bid was based on a summer World Cup using
air-conditioned stadiums to combat the desert heat.
Despite this, there has been wide support for a winter World
Cup with Franz Beckenbauer and UEFA president Michel Platini
backing a January-February tournament.
Platini also suggested a "World Cup in the Gulf" with Qatar
sharing matches with neighbouring countries.
Blatter denied supporting a winter tournament himself and
said he was impartial, although he feared a winter tournament
could clash with that year's Winter Olympics.
"I'm not in favour of one or the other although January and
February would be in conflict with the IOC (International
Olympic Committee) of which I'm a member.
"Who said first we should play in winter? It was Franz
Beckenbauer, secondly Michel Platini, thirdly it was the
professional players' union, FIFPro."