By David Owen
January 3 – It should be perfectly possible to stage a World Cup in Qatar in summer, a top executive at a leading temperature control company has told insideworldfootball.
Bill Caplan, managing director of the Europe and Middle East region at Aggreko, a Glasgow-based temporary power and temperature control supply specialist, likened the situation to the way in which winter sports event organisers had learnt to make allowances for the cold.
“Sure,” Caplan replied when asked if it would be possible to stage the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup in summer.
“The venues will all have the appropriate temperature control,” he added.
He acknowledged that moving football supporters between hotels and venues in the intense desert heat could prove “a bit of a challenge”.
However: “The Winter Olympics are cold.
“We adjust to the winter conditions and they will figure out a way of adjusting to the summer conditions.
“I’m very confident that they will figure it out.”
Qatar, the small but wealthy and increasingly influential Gulf state, was awarded the right to stage the 2022 World Cup by FIFA, world football’s governing body, a year ago.
The decision has been a source of controversy ever since, in spite of Qatar’s plans to install air conditioning in stadia.
Moving the tournament to the winter, when temperatures in the country are much more comfortable, has been one suggestion, in spite of the disruption this would cause to the club season in Europe, still where most of the sport’s money and top players are concentrated.
UEFA President Michel Platini said this month that he would move the Champions League and Europa League in 2022 to accommodate such a switch.
Aggreko, which has provided services to many major sports events in recent years, is the exclusive supplier of temporary energy services to the London 2012 Olympics and also worked on the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
It has worked on many events in the Middle East, including the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the Dubai rugby sevens, where it has a particularly long association.
Read the full interview here on our sister site, insidethegames.
Contact the writer of this story at zib.l1734863153labto1734863153ofdlr1734863153owedi1734863153sni@n1734863153ewo.d1734863153ivad1734863153
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