FIFA announces November-December as timeframe for 2022 World Cup in Qatar
"Based on the proposal of the Task Force for the International Match Calendar 2018-24 chaired by Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa, the executive decided that the 22nd edition of FIFA's flagship event would be played in November and December 2022, with the final taking place on 18 December 2022 - Qatar's National Day - and with the objective, in principle, of staging the tournament in 28 days," FIFA said in its statement. An initiative of switching the 2022 World Cup in Qatar from summer to November-December period was proposed last year by FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who cited blazing heat in the Arab state in summer time as the reason for the drastic change of the traditional timeframe. Plans to move the football championship in Qatar from summer to winter were criticized by many international football officials. In particular, Vyacheslav Koloskov, former FIFA vice president from Russia, said earlier that the change in FIFA calendar would result in giant organizational inconveniences. Koloskov said that the whole Europe plays football in November and December and it includes national championships, the Champions League, the Europa League and therefore the international calendar must be completely changed, TASS reports. He also said that major winter sports competitions were usually held in November-December and major broadcasters were involved in the coverage of these tournaments. It would be hard, he said, to come to terms with broadcasting companies if the World Cup was held at the same time.
