Qatar 2022: News & Analysis

Up until now the Winter WC movement was being pushed by multiple European interests but now Qatar's own Bin Hammam has also come out supporting the idea. Of course, it's not at all because a Summer WC would be too hot or that stadiums with AC are too expensive but because the players would be in mid-season form.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news...2022-World-Cup-to-Winter-------112569824.html

Spain seems to be the lone voice against this move.

Folks, it looks like a done deal. Blatter wants it, UEFA wants it and BH is ok with the idea. Who's going to stand against them?

 

Let's see how the FIFA elections proceed in 2011 first. There will be a number of new executive committee members. Some of the FIFA Vice-Presidents are in danger, especially Hayatou.

 

I have no confidence that anything will change even with an all new executive committee and president. If all the big wigs wants a winter cup then it will happen.

 

Can't see the Premier League wanting to suspend their season for 8 weeks or so. Just will not happen.

 

If we absolutely have to see Qatar end up hosting 2022 then they must be made to do it in June and July-as per bid.
Otherwise they set a precedent,they devalue the WC and the UEFA competitions.

I will work extremely hard(as I'm sure thousands will) on making sure all sponsors know all the negatives of Qatar 2022-be it in June or January.
Someone needs to start a petition

 

First what is first. If they don`t make it through the UEFA qualifiers for this WC, it will not matter anyone, if the PL likes it or not........

 

yeah, because the EPL and FA are one of the same thing.

 

Interesting theory. If by "they" you mean England, then perhaps you're forgetting that the PL is full of foreign players. For the last World Cup there were over 100 PL players, in 24 of the national squads.

Also, in terms of what's first, the timing of the World Cup will need to be fixed long before the qualifying competition finishes.

 

There are some nations that won't have a suitable home base to play pre-World Cup training or preparation games either. What if Canada makes the 2022 World Cup. Where is their team going to train in December before they travel to Qatar? What about Finland or Russia? There just isn't a suitable preparation time for a winter tournament either in terms of climate or fixture congestion for leagues that are in-season.

 

that´s a pretty bad argument given that teams routinely go to other countries to prepare for a tournament. usually one which has a similar climate to the host nation. England prepared in Austria for the 2010 WC.

that makes more sense. while it would have it´s advantages since most players
would be mid-season, the leagues would have to take at least 6-7 weeks off.

 

All the talk of not having a suitable preperation time is just wrong. We are 11 years away from the Qatar World Cup, if the decision is made next year, then nations will have 10 years to prepare!!

Afterall, this is an Asian World Cup, the majorty of Asian leagues are in close season or in a mid season break in January, so why shouldn't Qatar host a world cup when the Asian leagues aren't playing?

For other world cups, such as the last one in SA, the Japanese and Korean leagues needed to stop, the seem would be for Europe, but the Asian leagues don't complain, they work within these decisions, the same would be needed for European leagues and they would have a clear timeframe to work within.

But what do you fans want? You complain about the June/July heat, and then you complain when noises are made to move it? What would you prefer? A world cup with players who say they are tired in June/July or a world cup when players say they are just hitting their peak?

The only problem being at this moment is when would a cut off point be needed for players to be released? They would need a month before the first game, so we are looking at leagues breaking up in November, in England you could use the League Cup to be played later in December/January rather than mid week to keep the local game flowing for example.

Another problem that could araise is if a big European nation doesn't make the 32, they would then continue to play their own domestic league, this wouldn't look too good if the likes of Italy, Germany, England, France or Spain missed out on qualification and played head to head domestic football against the World Cup.

 

IMO, we would be talking 4 weeks at least before the WC, and two weeks at least after the final date to really make it work, so I'm in with your 6-7 weeks period.

This I then assume would only really affect the big nations in Europe as the other smaller leagues would generally be on a mid season break. So we are talking about 5 nations that really have a problem.

 

the problem is, these 5 leagues pay the wages of most players in a WC, so they´d have a very legitimate say in the whole affair.

 

personally, I think a winter WC would be great. as long as it doesn´t happen too often.

 

Then it's all about these 5 leagues getting members onto the FIFA Board, of course the home nations get a vote.

Italy, they interest me a little bit because it's not uncommon for them to put back the league season when an Olympics has been in play, so a world cup I don't think would hurt them, they would simply just stop and start again.

One thing that may be a concern is that Qatar should get a Confederations Cup for the year before, so I'm assuming if they want a winter world cup, then they have to run a winter confed cup, so we will have two winters of disruption.

 

One thing that will be key to any winter world cup will be who's on the FIFA board.

Prince Ali of Jordan will be challenging to get on board

http://www.goalzz.com/main.aspx?showarticle=90336&obj=0

 

there´s big difference though between adjusting the league season and having a 2 months break. most big leagues adjust their league for WCs and ECs years, even England.

 

Personally, I think a winter WC would be a good thing for soccer. FIFA needs to understand that different countries need to have different seasons. I'll bet we'll here a lot less noise about MLS needing to be on the international calendar now.

 

My thought on the EPL is that various figures there have said that they prefer a winter WC. I see no problem.

 

Interesting. I thought they would have been the biggest opponents to the change. Do you have a link?

 

Fabio Capello supposedly said it, who's looking after the welfare of the players really, we all know Mr Squiggle from Qatar wasn't a workable solution for June/July, even the Blatter bag man himself Bin Hammam has jumped on the winter wc bandwagon. What a surprise Capello won't be manager of England by then anyway, but yes lets all disrupt the whole football world for world footballing superpower Qatar, who hasn't even qualified for a single world cup to begin with

 

The only sane question is: why Qatar?

There are 3 stadiums to fill everyday during a World Cup. That means at least 200,000 spectators everyday. That's about the number of Qatari citizens as a whole! And I count here newborn babies and seniors.

I fear this World Cup to take place in empty stadiums, especially during group stage.

 

Australia's World Cup bid "dirty"

http://au.sports.yahoo.com/football/news/article/-/8581791/australias-world-cup-bid-dirty/