(ATR) A FIFA Qatar 2022 taskforce has ended more than four years of wrangling by recommending that the World Cup be moved from the summer to winter.
The working group led by Asian football chief Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa met for the final time today in Doha before announcing what FIFA's leaders, including Sepp Blatter, have been saying must happen since the panel was established in 2013.
FIFA's medical chiefs and the worldwide players' union as well as some prominent football executives, namely UEFA president Michel Platini, have campaigned for world football's governing body to relocate the World Cup from the scorching heat of the Gulf nation's summer to winter due to players' welfare concerns.
FIFA has been under intense pressure to shunt the 2022 football showpiece to winter ever since Qatar was awarded the World Cup in December 2010.
Shaikh Salman said the recommendation was November/December and that the tournament should be shortened by a few days from the usual one-month long competition.
"We are very pleased that, after careful consideration of the variousopinions and detailed discussions with all stakeholders, we haveidentified what we believe to be the best solution for the 2018-2024international match calendar and football in general," said ShaikhSalman.
"It was achallenging task and I want to thank all members of the footballcommunity for their productive input and constructiveness in helping tofind a solution that we believe can work for everyone," he added.
FIFA issued a press release saying a "late-November/late-December" date had been proposed as the "most viable period for the 2022 FIFA World Cup".
The governing body said the event dates had the full support of all six confederations. The proposal is expected to be ratified by the FIFA Executive Committee at its March 19-20 meeting in Zurich.
The recommendation comes despite the vociferous concerns of the 214-member European Club Association and European leagues who fear the World Cup switch to winter will create chaos to domestic competitions.
FIFA said the task force had discussed various options for alternative dates to the traditional June/July for the World Cup at its three meetings over the past six months.
"The representatives of the leagues once again emphasised the impact that a November/December tournament would have on their respective calendars," FIFA said in its statement.
"Given that the two bidding cities for the 2022 Winter Olympics – Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Beijing (China) – pledged recently to host the winter games from 4 to 20 February 2022; that the month of Ramadan begins on 2 April in 2022; and that consistently hot conditions prevail from May to September in Qatar, the only remaining effective option is the November/December window," it added.
"For legal reasons, the 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup must be played within the calendar year 2022."
Reported by Mark Bisson
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