The world footballers' union believes the 2022 World Cup in Qatar should be held in the winter instead of summer.With
Gulf summer temperatures hitting 50C, FIFPro has said it is pleased
Fifa is open to changing the tournament's timing to address the issue of
heat.
The president of world football's governing body, Sepp Blatter, backed a possible switch to January 2022. And in a statement, FIFPro said it "does not foresee any insurmountable problems in this regard". In
the vote by Fifa's executive committee on 2 December, Qatar beat
Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States to host the World
Cup, which is traditionally held in June and July. But the secretary of FIFPro's technical committee, Tijs Tummers, has questioned the decision to award Qatar the tournament based on it still being held in the summer."It is not sensible in a country with an average temperature of 41C
in June and July, a midday temperature of 50C and, above all, extremely
high humidity," Tummers said. "Tourists are advised not to travel
to Qatar in the summer months and inhabitants leave the country en
masse during this period. "[So] the summer months in Qatar also
do not provide suitable conditions for a festival of football such as
the World Cup should be, including for the supporters." When
Qatar was announced as host, German World Cup-winning captain and coach
Franz Beckenbauer voiced concerns about the health risk the heat could
pose for players. However Tummers insisted that by switching the
dates the weather concerns could be countered, while players might be in
better condition than if the tournament was held in its traditional
slot at the end of a gruelling European season. "Space will have
to be made for the tournament, even though many countries already have a
winter break," the secretary of FIFPro's technical committee added. "In Europe, competitive matches will have to be played in August and the second half of May and the first half of June. "If
you look at what happened last weekend with weather problems in Europe
because of heavy snowfall, you could see this as an advantage rather
than as a problem. "And it might, perhaps, turn out that the
players will be fitter at the start of a winter World Cup than was the
case last summer at the World Cup in South Africa."
If you look what happened with weather problems in Europe because
of heavy snowfall, you could see this as an advantage rather than as a
problem
FIFPro's technical committee secretary Tijs Tummers
So looks like the players (at least officially) are in favour. What are people's views on a winter world cup? I think it would be shit, but maybe that's just me.
Last edited by GeorgeL on Wed Dec 22, 2010 8:57 am; edited 1 time in total