By David Owen
November 5 – Pressure on FIFA over the timing of the 2022 World Cup has ratcheted up another notch, with news that the international skiing and snowboarding governing body is looking to forge a common front with other federations against holding the tournament in the winter sports season.
The Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS) announced after its Council’s autumn meeting, held in Oberhofen, Switzerland, that it would “submit a proposal to the other six International Winter Sports Federations to sign a resolution against organising the FIFA World Cup during the winter sports season in 2022”.
A final decision on whether to move one of the globe’s premier sporting competitions away from the blazing heat of the Qatari summer – and, if so, when to – is still many months away, with FIFA announcing last month that a commission of stakeholders is to examine the issue.
Much, clearly, is at stake, with organisers of events that end up coinciding with such a huge alternative attraction likely to generate far less media exposure and marketing income than they might otherwise expect to.
2022 is also Winter Olympic year – and the bidding battle is poised to get under way, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s first deadline for aspiring hosts falling on November 14.
At this stage, it looks highly likely that the Games will be staged in Europe: Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, is so far the only confirmed bidder, but competition is expected from Lviv (Ukraine), Oslo (Norway), Munich (Germany) and Krakow (Poland), in partnership with Slovakia.
In another potentially significant development, FIFA President Sepp Blatter was present on Sunday at a summit called by Thomas Bach, the new IOC President, in Lausanne, at which creation of a “consultative working group” was agreed to compile a “comprehensive sporting calendar of current events” and discuss “the priority of current and future sports events within the global calendar”.
A total of 17 prominent sports administration figures attended the gathering, including Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, President of the Association of National Olympic Committees, and the Presidents of the Russian, Chinese and US Olympic Committees,
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