November 6 – Asia’s top Olympic official has stepped into the debate over a winter World Cup in 2022, ruling out the idea of the winter Olympics the same year being shifted from its traditional February time slot.
FIFA have narrowed the options for 2022 down to two likely windows – November-December and January-February – with many experts warning the former will cause widespread disruption to the calendar on both sides of the world.
A final decision on the exact date is due next spring and shifting the winter Games, even slightly, to allow for a January-February World Cup is one idea being mooted by the clubs to solve the problem even though FIFA president Sepp Blatter, himself a member of the International Olympic Committee, has promised this would never happen.
Now, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti president of the Olympic Council of Asia, has got in on the act by saying there was no chance the two events could be held simultaneously and the onus was on FIFA to find a solution.
“I think the Olympics should be maintained because we don’t have a problem,” Sheikh Ahmad told reporters. “This is a FIFA issue not an IOC issue.”
Although the 2022 Winter Olympics host will not be finalised until next year, the Games are certain to be held in Asia, with only Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan, in the running. The exact dates have not been confirmed yet though every previous edition of the Winter Olympics, dating back to 1924, has been held mostly in February.
Some argue the IOC could accede to a request to move to March but Sheikh Ahmad said no way.
“I believe the IOC (International Olympic Committee) will maintain their time because we have already committed… the organisers, the broadcasters, all the marketing partners, the NOC’s (National Olympic Committees),” he said.
“I don’t think something will touch the Olympics. FIFA should be flexible, this is my advice. I am 100 percent confident that they will never be at the same time, there will be a respect for the time of each event.”
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