UEFA associations back moving 2022 Qatar World Cup to winter

PanARMENIAN.Net - UEFA's 54 member associations have given their backing to moving the Qatar World Cup in 2022 to winter, according to BBC Sport.

"What has come out of this meeting is that the World Cup cannot be played in Qatar in the summer," said Britain's FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce.

"Everyone was certainly in agreement about that."

Boyce added that the debate was now regarding whether it would be played in January 2022 or November and December of that year.

The British associations want to ensure their festive fixtures are protected for their domestic league seasons, while UEFA favor January so that it would not impact on the Champions League.

But Boyce, who is also president of the Irish Football Association, says the associations do not want FIFA to rush that decision.

"There is still nine years to go and people feel FIFA should sit down with all the major stakeholders and come up with a solution that would cause the minimum disruption to football.

"There is plenty of time to do that in my opinion, and hopefully football will be the winner."

The developments come after a meeting between the associations in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

FIFA's executive committee is expected to agree in principle to move the World Cup to the winter at its meeting in Zurich which begins on October 3.

According to a Reuters report, Australia's soccer chief Frank Lowy earlier warned FIFA not to rush a decision on switching the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to the northern hemisphere winter and said other bidders should be compensated if the move goes ahead.

Football Federation Australia (FFA) chairman Lowy, the billionaire owner of the Westfield shopping center empire, said a quick decision over the move at FIFA's executive board meeting next month risked “making a bad situation worse.”

FIFA President Sepp Blatter last week stood by the decision to award the tournament to Qatar, saying the decision to play the tournament in the middle of the year was the only mistake.