By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent, in Zurich
October 4 – Sepp Blatter admitted today he “took responsibility” for the Qatar 2022 World Cup winter-summer debacle – but left open a key number of questions, not least the eventual rescheduling of the tournament. Announcing, as expected, that a commission involving all the game’s stakeholders would be set up to try and find a way through a myriad of complexities, the FIFA president was in typically canny mood.
There was no definitive answer to whether the Qatar 2022 World Cup will be switched from Summer and, if so, exactly when to. Blatter favours November-December.
Blatter did directly address the question of Qatar being stripped as hosts saying this was a non-starter, whatever FIFA’s top corruption-buster Michael Garcia might discover during his upcoming visit to all nine contenders for 2018 and 2022.
“The 2022 will be staged in Qatar,” said Blatter. There was no indication whether the 25-strong executive committee supported the call for a switch of timing but there were multiple voices for a full consultation with all parties involved.
Blatter also confirmed statements from individual exco members, including Belgium’s Michel d’Hooghe, that it was entirely possible that the 2022 commission would probably not come up with a firm alternative date until next year’s World Cup at the earliest, and quite possibly not until 2015. “I cannot contradict what Dr. D’Hooghe has said,” said Blatter. “What I will say is that it can’t be later than 2015.”
“I want to take responsibility because I did say that June and July are too hot and the statement I made at the time has spilled a lot of ink. We could have had this discussion earlier, we should have spoken about the heat before, and that’s also my responsibility.”
But despite this, Blatter cleverly negotiated his way through a number of hoops, citing the wording of the bid registration document sent to all 2018 and 2022 contenders.
The relevant documentation, he said, specifically stated that the World Cup was “expected” to be staged in June and July, not that it always had to be that way. “It is not a binding text,” he said.
“So now we will carry out deep consultations with all the participants including players, clubs, leagues, confederations, marketing and media partners. We have to bear in mind our obligations to these partners.”
Apart from the involvement of Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al Khalifa as head of the Asian Football Confederation, who will co-ordinate the commission, none of the other members have been chosen. But, said Blatter, they would be charged with presenting a road map to the next exco meeting in December towards some kind of solution for Qatar in 2014 or 2015.
“I don’t know what will be the outcome, let us work on that,” said Blatter who made clear he understood the ramifications of any decision that did not satisfy opponents of a winter World Cup, including the suggestion of compensation. “We’ll have to see, if we play in winter, what liabilities FIFA has towards sponsors and others, leagues and other organisations.”
Blatter was quick to distance himself from the escalation of Michael Garcia’s investigation into the entire bid process, starting with a visit to Londn next week.
Garcia is head of the investigatory arm of FIFA’s ethics committee and Blatter said: “This was brought to our notice in the exco but I had to tell them it wasn’t up to us to make any comment on any investigation by the ethics committee because it is totally independent.”
The treatment of migrant workers in Qatar, a hot topic since the revelation of scores of deaths among construction workers, was also discussed by the exco, said Blatter. And while he made it clear Qatar was being watched in terms of making sure improvements are put in place, he made it clear FIFA could not impose sanctions.
“I express all of my sympathy and regret for anything that happens in any country when there are deaths on construction sites, especially construction sites involving a World Cup,” said Blatter. “But FIFA cannot … assume the duty of supervising security though of course we cannot turn a blind a eye and it does concern us.”
The Association of European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) was one of the first bodies to support today’s decision to set up a task force saying it “welcomes the decision of FIFA Executive Committee to postpone any decision related to the period during which the Qatar World Cup 2022 shall be played.”
“As previously stated by the EPFL, any change to the current structure of the international calendar must be carefully assessed through a full and proper consultation and decision making process balancing all relevant interests, including all football stakeholders and notably the EPFL.”
“Hence, the EPFL also welcomes the decision of FIFA to establish a specific working group of stakeholders to examine such issue and is ready to give its contribution for such body.”
The EPFL Chairman Frédéric Thiriez added: “We are pleased that FIFA President and FIFA Executive Committee took into consideration our position for this delicate matter. This is positive for the European Leagues and the whole football family”.
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