Premier League remains opposed to winter World Cup plan

The Premier League is to maintain its opposition to moving the 2022 Qatar World Cup to the winter despite Fifa edging further towards its preferred option of a November tournament following a key meeting in Zurich.

The Premier League chief executive, Richard Scudamore, was among those present who backed a European Professional Football Leagues proposal to hold the tournament in May 2022 to avoid huge upheaval to club football over three seasons.

The Spanish and German leagues are also believed to be united in opposition to moving the tournament to either January 2022 or November of that year, arguing Fifa awarded Qatar the rights to the tournament on the basis it would be in the summer.

A series of incremental moves on Monday made the prospect of a November 2022 tournament ever more likely. The most significant was a presentation to the taskforce that will decide on the dates for the tournament by Fifa’s chief medical officer, Professor Jiri Dvorak. He said there was a “highly critical risk” to players, officials and fans if it took place between June and August, and a borderline risk between May and September.

“What I have said is that for the players, the accompanying staff and the fans the months June till August are highly critical in terms of risk, due to the climatic conditions in Qatar,” he said. “In May and September it is borderline when it comes to the temperature of high risk but from the medical point of view it is not recommended.”

Dvorak added that the judgment on climatic conditions was based not just on temperature but also humidity, and the amount of radiation from the sun, and that none of the venues in Brazil for this summer’s World Cup had been considered even a borderline risk.

Fifa secretary general Jérôme Valcke appeared to rule out a June tournament when he said it was “getting closer to narrowing” the options to either January-February 2022 or November-December 2022. Uefa favours the former because it would cause less disruption to the Champions League group stage, whereas Fifa favours the latter.

The International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach again insisted on Monday he had an agreement the World Cup would not clash with the Winter Olympics in January 2022.

Valcke said the alternative options proposed by the European Clubs Association and the EPFL of starting the tournament in April or May could also be complicated by Ramadan beginning on April 2nd.

By a process of elimination, it leaves November 2022 as by far the most likely date. Blatter was all set to announce the move to the winter last year but was forced to convene the taskforce to undertake consultation following a furious backlash from broadcasters, the European leagues and other sports.

For the first time, Qatar 2022 organising committee’s chief executive, Hassan al-Thawadi, also expressed a preference for a winter tournament, while continuing to insist it would be able to host it in the summer if required.

During the bidding process the 22 voting members of Fifa’s executive committee ignored a technical report that said holding the tournament in Qatar posed a high risk to health during the summer, when temperatures routinely reach 50 degrees.

Since Qatar was awarded the World Cup in December 2010 its status as a host has been mired in controversy amid allegations about how it won the bid and the treatment of migrant labour workers driving the huge infrastructure expansion that underpins it.

Scudamore and the European leagues remain determined to hold their position but ultimately the direction of travel appears set and it will come down to a negotiation that could involve financial compensation or other bartering around dates in the football calendar.

Guardian Service