By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
March 19 – After more than four years of often heated and fractious debate, FIFA finally confirmed today that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be played in November and December with the final on Sunday, December 18.
Football’s world governing body made the announcement at the end of the first day of its eagerly awaited executive committee meeting, with remaining details due to be unveiled at a news conference on Friday given by FIFA president Sepp Blatter, along with other items on the agenda.
FIFA spokesman Walter De Gregorio confirmed the date of the final , which falls on Qatar’s national day, but did not say when the tournament would start.
Insideworldfootball was told by one executive committee member, however, that with a 28-day World Cup on the cards rather than the usual 31 or 32, the start date would almost certainly be November 21.
“This is for us an important step,” said de Gregorio. “Finally we know the end of the tournament. It’s a Sunday and, by the way, it’s the national day in Qatar, so it fits perfectly. You have enough time to do your Christmas shopping.”
Ratification of a winter tournament was a foregone conclusion once the FIFA-commissioned Task Force that took 18 months to examine the best option concluded that late in the year was the optimum time to avoid the searing summer Gulf heat.
An official statement from Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy said: “We welcome the decision of FIFA’s Executive Committee in relation to the timing of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. We are satisfied the process has reached its conclusion.
“Regardless of the change in dates, we will continue to develop the cooling technology promised during the bid, ensuring our commitment to deliver a true legacy as a result of the first World Cup in the Middle East remains.”
Last month the task force recommended November-December rather than the other potential winter period of January-February which was ruled out because of a clash with winter sports programming.
Although UEFA would have preferred January, there was ultimately no opposition among Europe members of FIFA’s exco.
Qatar’s bid was originally for a summer World Cup with air-conditioned stadiums to combat the heat. But the health of players, fans and officials has been a constant talking point ever since the Gulf state won a landslide victory in December, 2010.
“It was unanimous, all six confederations agreed on the dates,” Britain’s outgoing FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce told Insideworldfootball.
“The discussion was over within about three minutes. Everyone present said we had to make the best of where we were and that November-December were the best available dates in terms of the best conditions for players and spectators. There are seven years for people to plan for this.”
It is understood that a firm decision was also taken to play the Confederations Cup, the traditional warm-up tournament, in its usual summer slot the year before the World Cup – but in another country to avoid the same heat issue.
Instead, Qatar is likely to stage FIFA’s Club World Cup competition around the time of December 2021, as a replacement test event.
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