By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
March 21 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter today gave his most unequivocal statement to date that the 2022 Qatar World Cup will be staged in summer – as per the terms of the original bid process.
A report in the Spanish sports publication AS – picked up by a tabloid British newspaper and across Europe – was interpreted as wrongly suggesting that if the tournament is switched to winter and prompts a legal challenge from any of the four vanquished 2022 candidates, Qatar could be stripped of host status and a revote take place. UEFA president Michel Platini has led the clamour for a winter tournament even though Platini apparently never mentioned this before voting for the Gulf state in December 2010.
The technical possibility of a legal challenge from the United States, Japan, South Korea or Australia is nothing new and was first reported exclusively several months ago by InsideWorldFootball. But the Americans have since said they would not go down this road. In any event, Qatar is highly unlikely to request a switch to the winter while FIFA would stand to lose all credibility if it suddenly handed its flagship tournament to someone else, a situation that has only happened once when Mexico replaced Colombia back in the 1980s.
Blatter clarified matters at a press conference following today’s FIFA executive committee meeting. “We are not losing control of the debate,” Blatter insisted. “Since the decision was taken people have realised that playing in summer will be very difficult. But the basic principles and the list of requirements established by the executive committee was very clear and has not been changed.
“It is still the same. The 2022 World Cup…has to be played in June and July. This principle has never been put into question either by the organiser – that means Qatar – or by FIFA’s executive committee. Therefore it still stands. If there is any move, such a move must come from Qatar. All other rumours and tendencies to play when and where are not relevant.”
A few hours before Blatter’s remarks, his communications department also distanced the organisation from any suggestion that Qatar would ever be stripped as hosts.
A statement read: “FIFA would like to remind as communicated previously that in fact the bidding agreement clearly stipulates that the final decision on the format and dates for both competitions (FIFA Confederations Cup 2021 and FIFA World Cup 2022) is vested with the FIFA Organising Committee which may hear recommendations from the LOC (local organising committee). Therefore, nothing has changed to what we have said previously. Any potential change would have to be first requested by the competition organisers, ie. Qatar, and then presented to the FIFA Executive Committee for analysis.”
What is perhaps the case, despite Blatter having to abide by protocol, is that he has never been comfortable with Qatar as hosts. Although he has never said so publicly, he is believed to have voted for the United States and made some tough remarks about Qatar in his interview with AS.
“There are always questionmarks over Qatar because the Executive Committee chose the country democratically despite the existence of FIFA technical reports clearly, very clearly, warning of the difficulties of the tournament being played there, for two reasons: the climate and the size of the country,” was the English translation of what Blatter said. “So, the Executive Committee must accept the criticism it is now receiving for its decision.”
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