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World Cup in Qatar 'impossible' in summer, says Greg Dyke

A few years off, but I still can't work out how they are going to manage it. Assume they will be night matches.

A summer World Cup in Qatar in 2022 would be "impossible", says Football Association chairman Greg Dyke.
Dyke, who took up his FA role last month, thinks the tournament is likely to move to winter because of the heat.
The Premier League opposes a change of dates, while Dyke's predecessor David Bernstein said in June that any switch would be "fundamentally flawed".
But Qatar's World Cup organising committee says it is ready to host the tournament in summer.
"Even if all the stadia are air-conditioned, I think it will be impossible for the fans," Dyke said.
David Bernstein
"I personally believe that the domestic league season should remain more or less the way it is now, running from August to May.

"I think football is a winter game, that the public greatly enjoy their football through the winter and that we should think very carefully before we take football away from the public in the winter."

David Bernstein, then-FA chairman, arguing against moving the World Cup on 7 June

"Just go out there and wander around in that sort of heat. I just don't think it's possible.
"My position, and I suspect the FA's position, will be: 'You can't play it in the summer.'"
The Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee told BBC Sport in a statement: "It was the right decision to award the World Cup to the Middle East for the first time in 2022.
"We are ready to host in summer or winter. We have always maintained that this issue requires the agreement of the international football community.
"A decision to alter the dates of the 2022 Fifa World Cup would not affect our infrastructure planning."
The Premier League is understood to be surprised and disappointed by Dyke's comments, as it wishes to join forces with the FA in opposing a change of date.
Richard Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, said in July that switching the Qatar World Cup to winter would cause chaos for football leagues around the world.
His organisation believes such a change would have an impact on the three domestic seasons around the tournament - most notably 2021-22 - affecting broadcast deals and requiring every player's contract to be rewritten.
In 2010 Qatar defeated bids from South Korea, Japan, Australia and the United States to be awarded the 2022 World Cup.
The bid has been plagued by allegations of corruption, although organisers have always insisted they did nothing wrong.
Analysis
"Greg Dyke was in relaxed but firm mood today as he spoke to journalists about one of the biggest issues in football, wasting little time in making his mark as the new FA chairman. Until today, the governing body had avoided taking a position on Fifa's hugely controversial decision to award Qatar the 2022 World Cup.

"Dyke sympathises with the Premier League, who are vehemently opposed to a winter tournament, but his insistence that a change of schedule or location is required for the sake of fans is bound to cause friction with the clubs.

"Two and a half years after Qatar was awarded the event, pressure is now mounting on Fifa to end the uncertainty, with a decision pencilled in for October.

"For years, football has wrestled with how Qatar won the right to host the tournament. Now debate will focus on when it should take place. The fall-out could be as litigious and divisive as anything the game has ever seen."

Dan Roan

Temperatures in the Middle East state can reach 50C in the summer, and Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke admitted in March that the tournament might be moved.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter said in May it was "not rational" to play in such heat.
But shortly before stepping down as FA chairman, Bernstein said there should be no change.
"The bid was for the World Cup to be played in June and July, and for it then to be moved to the winter would be fundamentally flawed," he said.
"If people want it in the winter, they should bid for it on that basis."
Dyke, though, believes a move is inevitable, and suspects there is likely to be legal action as a result.
The 66-year-old, who has visited Qatar in June, added: "Fifa have therefore got two choices. They can move it either time-wise or to another location. I suspect either will end up in some sort of litigation. But then someone should have worked that out in 2010 when it was awarded.
"I understand the reaction of the Premier League in not wanting to move it, and I have some sympathy with them.
"We didn't have to choose to give it to Qatar in the summer. But that's where it is, and I think it will either have to be moved out of the summer or moved to another location.
"I suspect that the former is more likely than the latter."
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Comments

  • doesnt surprise me, rather a delayed PL rather than several people dead on the pitch
    FIFA screwed up with letting Qatar host a summer competition
  • There's an easy answer. Take the WC away from Qatar and find somewhere more sensible. There's plenty of time to find another host!
  • A mate of mine just quit a very high profile job in Qatar, he says that the Qataris had no intention of ever staging it in their summer and that the push was on from the day after they 'won' the 2022 tournament to re-stage it in their 'winter' months.

    An absolute clusterfuck of a situation and one which will lead to an all-out war between FIFA and UEFA with the latter, I can assure you, having no intention of moving their Champions League games nor have their member countries got any intention of moving their domestic leagues either.

    UEFA and the EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga have all got critical broadcast contracts in place for football in the European winter and they ain't gonna change that for anybody.
  • A mate of mine just quit a very high profile job in Qatar, he says that the Qataris had no intention of ever staging it in their summer and that the push was on from the day after they 'won' the 2022 tournament to re-stage it in their 'winter' months.

    An absolute clusterfuck of a situation and one which will lead to an all-out war between FIFA and UEFA with the latter, I can assure you, having no intention of moving their Champions League games nor have their member countries got any intention of moving their domestic leagues either.

    UEFA and the EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga have all got critical broadcast contracts in place for football in the European winter and they ain't gonna change that for anybody.

    Um. Based on what Ormiston has written I suspect that behind the scenes there has always been the intention of staging it in winter but for obvious reasons that has never been on the table. Will be a very big stand off between the big super leagues and FIFA over the next couple of years. Piss up and brewery spring to mind.

  • Why do players contracts need to be rewritten?
  • Uefa run football and like it or not they will win this battle

    For 3 seasons starting in 2018 the premier league and all other top leagues will start to adapt how they do this I don't know, personally I think they will reduce the amount of teams in the leagues and withdraw top flight clubs from the minor domestic cups

    Sepp Blatter is a complete tool but Pratinu wants his job and if the pull from Qatar the level of corruption will leak

    This is why Blatter has said that he personally will visit the heads of member fa,s to discuss

    Its all about showing the evidence to them on what he has that implicates them

    Winter world cup then Blatter gone and Pratini in and the needle returns to the start of the song
  • There's an easy answer. Take the WC away from Qatar and find somewhere more sensible. There's plenty of time to find another host!

    The Aussies or Americans would be more than happy to host it (didn't they come 2nd in the voting?)

  • Nothing suprises me with the suits that run football but FIFA have made a monumental fuck up giving the WC to Qatar.
  • No VG they made a monumental amount of money but who pockrted it

    They will not change venue
  • Who did england vote for? Something tells me the Aussies
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  • There's an easy answer. Take the WC away from Qatar and find somewhere more sensible. There's plenty of time to find another host!

    It all shows how corrupt the whole thing was in the first place. Why give the WC to a country that can't properly stage it? It reminds me of 1994 when the US wanted to change the rules around to make it more enticing for CAmerican audiences. If you don't like the set up, don't get involved. Give it to the Aussies.
    Blatter must be proud of how this is panning out.

  • There's an easy answer. Take the WC away from Qatar and find somewhere more sensible. There's plenty of time to find another host!

    The Aussies or Americans would be more than happy to host it (didn't they come 2nd in the voting?)

    I'm not an England drum banging nutter but it's scandalous that this country has only ever hosted one World Cup.

    If this tournament is moved to the winter then it's an absolute outrage, that's not what was put on the table when the voting took place and such a fundamental change to the package should trigger a re-vote. It's going to get ugly and I could see it taking place in winter with a couple of associations boycotting.
  • A mate of mine just quit a very high profile job in Qatar, he says that the Qataris had no intention of ever staging it in their summer and that the push was on from the day after they 'won' the 2022 tournament to re-stage it in their 'winter' months.

    An absolute clusterfuck of a situation and one which will lead to an all-out war between FIFA and UEFA with the latter, I can assure you, having no intention of moving their Champions League games nor have their member countries got any intention of moving their domestic leagues either.

    UEFA and the EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga have all got critical broadcast contracts in place for football in the European winter and they ain't gonna change that for anybody.

    Not sure where your mate got his information from.
    I work at the national sports academy (Aspire) which is the hub for the national team along with everyone else. The qataris are intending to host the world cup in summer if they can. They already have a climate controlled outdoor stadium, and planned to use this technology in all the stadiums. It is rumoured that the contingency plan is to make it a gulf-wide tournament, with matches held in UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi.

    They are playing a cup competition as we speak and the league will start at the end of the month.

    What i dont get is that if their bid was accepted 'on merit' why is it only being questioned now??
  • There's an easy answer. Take the WC away from Qatar and find somewhere more sensible. There's plenty of time to find another host!

    This is exactly what should happen.

  • Sometimes the end result proves the corruption - Jo Brand winning the marathon for example. Rich Qatar getting the World cup is a prime example of this. Ok it may be difficult to prove, but we all know what FIFA is about and that outcome confirms this without any doubt IMO.
  • se9addick said:

    There's an easy answer. Take the WC away from Qatar and find somewhere more sensible. There's plenty of time to find another host!

    The Aussies or Americans would be more than happy to host it (didn't they come 2nd in the voting?)

    I'm not an England drum banging nutter but it's scandalous that this country has only ever hosted one World Cup.
    If this tournament is moved to the winter then it's an absolute outrage, that's not what was put on the table when the voting took place and such a fundamental change to the package should trigger a re-vote. It's going to get ugly and I could see it taking place in winter with a couple of associations boycotting.
    As the voting for 2018 proved we're never going to be popular enough to gain any votes.
  • As the voting for 2018 proved we're never going to be popular rich enough to gain any votes.
  • A mate of mine just quit a very high profile job in Qatar, he says that the Qataris had no intention of ever staging it in their summer and that the push was on from the day after they 'won' the 2022 tournament to re-stage it in their 'winter' months.

    An absolute clusterfuck of a situation and one which will lead to an all-out war between FIFA and UEFA with the latter, I can assure you, having no intention of moving their Champions League games nor have their member countries got any intention of moving their domestic leagues either.

    UEFA and the EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga have all got critical broadcast contracts in place for football in the European winter and they ain't gonna change that for anybody.

    Not sure where your mate got his information from.
    I work at the national sports academy (Aspire) which is the hub for the national team along with everyone else. The qataris are intending to host the world cup in summer if they can. They already have a climate controlled outdoor stadium, and planned to use this technology in all the stadiums. It is rumoured that the contingency plan is to make it a gulf-wide tournament, with matches held in UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi.

    They are playing a cup competition as we speak and the league will start at the end of the month.

    What i dont get is that if their bid was accepted 'on merit' why is it only being questioned now??
    Because it wasn't accepted on merit was it ? Everyone knows that there were political and monetary reasons for the decision to pick Qatar that flew in the face of all sanity. Not one member state of FIFA thinks it was a good idea. Utter madness.

  • Which is my point exactly. Aside from monetary reasons it doesnt make sense. No way FIFA can come out of this looking anywhere close to good.
  • But does FIFA care? They have set themselves up as a secretive insular organisation and as long as its leaders don't lose their cushy numbers and power they will continue.

    We all know FIFA is corrupt, but if somebody is exposed they jettison him and run some fake enquiry. They protect themselves and it will be difficult to see change because of the way they are set up.
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  • Ever since the Qatar selection fiasco I have been of the opinion that the major footballing associations of the world should have gotten together and formed a breakaway from FIFA. The most powerful associations are based in Europe and would only have needed to get Brazil and Argentina to back them and the monster that is FIFA could have been broken. When FIFA were holding the World Cup the new breakaway could have held its own tournament at one of the many countries fully able and willing to do so. I think that opportunity has been missed now but there is no doubt that there will be a few years of legal wrangling ahead.
  • edited August 2013
    The moment FIFA awarded that World Cup to Qatar was the moment they went from 'there's something not right/there's a few dodgy characters in FIFA' to being publically, balls-deep, rotten to the core.

    Giving Russia 2018 was one thing, but Qatar 2022 was pure greed, they didn't stop for a minute to realise what a disaster the whole situation would be, just how many brown paper envelopes there were.

    A shame, because a World Cup in Australia's winter would have been perfect, and if the Sydney Olympics were anything to go by, a brilliant tournament. Instead we've got this farce.
  • edited August 2013
    I think England will get the World cup the next time it bids because FIFA will feel we are a threat that needs to be placated. That is if our press doesn't let up on them! They will basically need to throw us a bone!
  • edited August 2013
    Don't think it is heat in the stadia they are using as excuse as can air condition them, they are saying about the whole fans experience in that heat. Needs the big gun leagues to refuse to bow to pressure to change their schedules and show just what a disaster this decision was.
  • I think England will get the World cup the next time it bids because FIFA will feel we are a threat that needs to be placated. That is if our press doesn't let up on them! They will basically need to throw us a bone!

    I should have added that the FA would need to stand behind FIFA and leave the attacks to the British press though.
  • I agree .. too hot .. the Qatari's are trying to buy up the entire universe ..
  • FIFA - and the IOC - are completely corrupt and out of control, and their decisions affect billions of people. But to bring them under control, only a global superior organisation can do that. I struggle to work out what such a body could be. The only one I can think of is the UN. Seriously.
  • Very interesting piece in the Times today by Matthew Syed. It looks like a major scam by Sarkozy, Platini and the owners of PSG and the Crown Prince of Qatar! So it would appear that uefa (France) took the biggest bung and voted for them in 2022. All of this is, of course, only alleged and not my personal view.
  • Very interesting piece in the Times today by Matthew Syed. It looks like a major scam by Sarkozy, Platini and the owners of PSG and the Crown Prince of Qatar! So it would appear that uefa (France) took the biggest bung and voted for them in 2022. All of this is, of course, only alleged and not my personal view.

    honestly wouldn't be surprised that after blatter dies this will all come out into the open somehow.
  • Does anyone care so much any more?

    World Cups used to be great. But now that we can see football from everywhere at any time, and most of the world's best players are either in this league or in other leagues on TV every week, does it matter so much? Players don't seem to care so much, understandably so.

    Perhaps this is just getting old. Anyway, an email saying that England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil were going to give 2022 a miss, thanks for the invite but you know how it is, would end all this pretty quickly.

    Oh, and don't drag Russia into this. Proper football country, deserves a World Cup.
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