World Cup 2022 "will not be June-July"

Fulax

Fulax

Fulax

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The 2022 World Cup in Qatar will not be held in the summer, according to Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke.

The scheduling of the tournament has been debated since it was controversially awarded to Qatar in December 2010.

Fears have been raised that the summer heat in the Gulf emirate would be dangerous for players and fans alike.

"The dates for the World Cup (in Qatar) will not be June-July," Valcke told Radio France.

"To be honest, I think it will be held between 15 November 15 and 15 January at the latest.

"If you play between 15 November and the end of December that's the time when the weather conditions are best, when you can play in temperatures equivalent to a warm spring season in Europe, averaging 25 degrees.

"That would be perfect for playing football."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25653594

Probably for the best (for the tournament, at least), but it just further underlines what a poor decision it was to award Qatar the World Cup in the first place.
 
Completely agree.

In terms of the heat it had to be moved or awarded to someone else. In terms on the WC in Winter I find it ridiculous. Fair play some leagues have winter breaks but the amount of games between November - January that will be disrupted because of it. The CL will have to start earlier to get the group stages complete in time. The F.A cup will have to start at a later date. The league cup final will have to be put back as the Quarters/Semi's wont be played in time and more than likely the PL will run into June/July then restart in August so players wont get as much of a rest and they will moan about fatigue
 
Valcke making a pre-emptive strike before the actual decision is made in December.

And reacting to Valcke's interview, FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce told Sky Sports News he did not expect an official decision until "at the very earliest, the end of 2014".

He said: "This has to be a decision that's made by the executive committee of FIFA. I'm totally surprised by what I've heard this morning.

"The situation as I'm aware was that at the FIFA executive committee would await a report set up by all the stakeholders involved...and there would be no further discussions before the December executive meeting.

"Whether Jerome was expressing a personal opinion, I don't know, but this has not been discussed by the executive committee."
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The farce continues.
 
rossk26 said:
Too much revenue is generated around the Christmas period for the PL and Clubs.

I think they will only alter the fixtures for one season.
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I agree but for different reasons, exactly why do you think prem league clubs make more money around the xmas period? ground sells out give or take a few fans at most clubs in most games. Why would they make significantly more for Arsenal vs Chelsea on December 20th rather than March 20th?

It won't have any financial impact in reality, the games create revenue, they'll get played at some other time for one season.


Boo hoo, it's sport, it's entertainment, most clubs have no break anyway, they just use it as a reason to run daft friendlies to make money anyway(the top teams with higher number of international players do anyway, real, psg, bayern).

People are so afraid of change, Qatar wouldn't be my first holiday pick, but neither would Brazil, nor England. Football is a worldwide sport enjoyed by fans everywhere and I completely agree with Fifa's mandate of letting new continents and new countries where possible get the World cup.


One cup we watch league from august till may, and the world cup in July, another year we watch the league from late july till November, and Feb till late June and the world cup in Jan......OMG.... seriously, who cares? Whose life is going to change so dramatically that this is a problem?
 
My view is that this should have been a factor during the bidding process and Qatar shouldn't have won.

USA, South Korea, Japan and Australia would all have been better hosts and been able to host it during the summer.
 
DM is right about the bigger clubs. I'd the PL started a winter break they'd start booking friendlies and exhibition matches in the Far East or the US. The players would, if anything, be more tired from all the travelling. The PL couldn't mandate actual rest as they have no control over the clubs. That's why a Winter Break just won't work.

Perhaps they may scrap the League Cup that season or give teams the option to withdraw?
 
If the proposal goes ahead and it is a winter world cup, will it be a mid season interruption for every league and tournament active in those months. Or will they change the schedule entirely to accommodate FIFA and Qatar's will. I'd still prefer a world cup around spring if need be over the miserable winter months, it just wouldn't be the same. Although with it being holiday season I guess viewing figures won't be affected at all, but attendance could reach new lows. Its time for a breakaway international tournament anyway. It'd be nice to see the top leagues reject any proposals but for player safety alone they'll likely budge.
 
If it does get switched to winter the season could look like this:

June When the World Cup would normally be played, players will be given the month off.

July Champions League and Europa League qualifying rounds start, possibly with fewer teams.

Mid-July Premier League season and other leading European leagues get under way.

Aug 9-10 Champions League and Europa League group stages begin.

Sept 2-6 Euro 2024 qualifying matches.

Sept 13-14 and 20-21 Champions League group matches.

Sept 30-Oct 4 Euro 2024 qualifiers.

Oct 11-12 and 18-19, Nov 1-2 Champions League group matches.

Nov 4 Fifa rules dictate the mandatory release of players two weeks before the start of the World Cup. There would be space for the usual World Cup warm-up matches, which would replace the regular November international dates.

Nov 17 World Cup begins.

Dec 1 Group stage ends.

Dec 4-6 Round of 16.

Dec 9-10 Quarter-finals.

Dec 13-14 Semi-finals.

Dec 17 Third-place play-off.

Dec 18 World Cup final.

Dec 26 Premier League could choose to resume with its traditional Christmas programme, while other European leagues may decide to rest their players during a truncated winter break.

Jan-May 2023 Normal schedules for Euro 2024 qualifying matches, European club competitions, FA Cup and League Cup.

May 18  Europa League final.

May 28 Champions League final.

June 11  Premier League finishes.

June 17 FA Cup Final.

August Premier League season starts as usual after a two-month break.
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Plenty of time to sort out what the domestic leagues would do. It's not like we've never seen significant changes to fixture scheduling in the past... changing number of teams in the top flight, European qualifying rounds, more teams in Europe, abolition of multiple cup replays, single leg league cup ties, ZDS Cup etc, that that's just what I can remember from the past 25 years never mind before.
 
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