By Andrew Warshaw
February 24 – Twenty-four hours after the announcement of the first ever winter World Cup in 2022, FIFA embarked on a fresh collision course with Europe’s major leagues and clubs by ruling out paying any enhanced compensation for the amount of time players will be away on international duty and the disruption it will cause to the regular calendar.
No sooner had Tuesday’s announcement of a November/December tournament in Qatar been made by the Task Force that spent 18 months looking for a way of avoiding playing in mid-summer than European Club Association Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said in a statement the leagues and clubs “cannot be expected to bear the costs for such rescheduling” and that the clubs “expect to be compensated for the damage” that a break with tradition would cause.
But FIFA general-secretary Jerome Valcke came out fighting today by telling a news conference in Doha: “There will be no compensation. There are seven years to reorganise.”
FIFA’s executive committee will meet in Zurich next month to ratify the task force’s recommendation and Valcke further incurred the wrath of the clubs and leagues by suggesting playing the World Cup final two days before Christmas was looking increasingly likely even though it would be a complete culture change for fans.
Valcke said UEFA and other confederations were keen on December 23 although December 18, which is Qatar’s national day and falls on a Sunday, is also a possibility.
He also confirmed the 2022 World Cup will be four days shorter as a “concession” to leagues and clubs – 28 days instead of the usual 31/32 – and that the 2023 African Nations Cup will move from January to June, ironically a period many have repeatedly called for.
Speaking after the first local organising committee board meeting, Valcke admitted the situation was “not perfect” but added: “Why are we talking about compensation? It’s happening once, we’re not destroying football. Why should we apologise to the clubs? We have had an agreement with the clubs that they are part of the beneficiaries. It was $40 million in 2010 and $70 million in 2014. We are bringing all our people to enjoy the sporting and financial results of the World Cup.”
Valcke’s comments seem certain to prompt a fierce three-week period of lobbying before FIFA’s exco makes the final ruling on March 19-20. Although many European leagues have a winter break, they don’t begin until well into December.
Frederic Thiriez, president of the European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) told AFP: “It is the worst solution. We are going to stop in November after 13 or 14 games and start again in January. In the meantime, players will not play, the clubs will not make any money, the fans will be deprived of national competitions, and television companies will be furious.”
On the last of those subjects, Valcke made plain that extending the Fox TV deal through to 2026 was partly to help clear the path for switching the 2022 tournament to winter without the threat of legal action.
“It’s true we had discussions with all different parties to make sure we can make a decision when to host the World Cup 2022 without facing any legal claim from any party with an interest in the organisation of the World Cup,” he said.
“We’ve done this, clearly. And that’s why in March we can make this decision without any risk that someone will challenge the decision of the executive committee. I am very happy to say that we have done what we had to do in order to protect FIFA, in order to protect the organisation of the World Cup and without any breach of any international rules on the business side of the negotiation.
“We have been extending a number of agreements because we want to protect our income and to protect our budget. We have finalised a budget until 2019 now so we are working on the following budget and we want to ensure we have a number of agreements that are signed with sponsors, with TV in order to protect our budget to make sure all the commitments we have are protected under this budget… For sure, it helps in the relationship not to have any fights with anyone.”
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