Decision to move Qatar World Cup to winter was done deal claims FIFA Executive Committee member

By Andrew Warshaw

January 17 – The idea of staging the 2022 World Cup during the winter if Qatar became hosts was discussed weeks before last month’s vote, according to a senior member of the FIFA Executive Committee.

Following the recent admission by FIFA President Sepp Blatter that he expects a switch of date because of the area’s stifling summer heat, the United States’ Chuck Blazer now reveals talks were held about moving a Gulf World Cup in the build-up to the ballot on December 2.

“There were comments like that some weeks before the decision,” said Blazer whose own country, hosts in 1994, were the main fall-guys resulting from Qatar’s landslide victory.

“Otherwise I really couldn’t understand how they voted for football in that level of temperatures, because I knew them well enough, and their support for their own teams, so it seemed illogical.”

Qatar spent millions on their campaign, pledging revolutionary cooling techniques at stadiums and training camps.

FIFA’s rules did not “contemplate” Government-financed bids of this type, Blazer said.

“You have to look at the rules and recognise that it’s a completely different ball game, what we experienced, from what we had contemplated,” Blazer added in an interview with Bloomberg.

Way before the vote, Blazer had questioned the wisdom of a World Cup in the region, famously remarking that “you can’t cool a whole country.”

To complicate the issue, any switch to the winter would need a break of around nine weeks and would totally disrupt the European club season.

Last week, UEFA President Michel Platini, who backed the choice of Qatar, even called for the tournament to be shared with the tiny state’s Gulf neighbours.

Platini “was one who was already talking about the idea of potentially moving the event before the decision was taken,” said Blazer, who opposes a switch to winter.

“So that’s why I don’t think this is much of a surprise in that sense,” he said.

Maybe the rationale of a guy like him – who wouldn’t necessarily like to see players playing in inclement weather – justified his vote by saying, ‘Well, we’ll actually move it.”

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