September 25 – The Scottish Football Association say they’d willingly play the 2022 World Cup in winter, even “on the north pole”, if it meant them qualifying.
With FIFA’s executive committee meeting next week to decide on whether to switch the tournament from summer, SFA chief executive Stewart Regan said his association would have no problem with that.
Scotland have failed to qualify since the 1998 World Cup in France and Regan said: “If we were part of the qualification, we wouldn’t want our players playing football in the height of the summer. We’d quite happily play the World Cup in the North Pole on Christmas Day”
Asked how disruptive a switch to winter would be, Regan said: “Clearly there would be a lot of logistical challenges and that’s why a consultation group has to be established and why FIFA have agreed to talk to all of the confederations.”
“What happens next is that a group of individuals will work through the practical details of potentially switching to a winter World Cup – when it would be, what would be the issues as far as fixture congestion and reassessing when fixtures could be played.
“Those matters would be consulted with the associations, who in turn would consult with their own league bodies and hopefully a plan can be developed that everyone is happy with.”
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