Let there be a winter World Cup in Qatar

 World football governing body FIFA has put the ball in Qatar’s court by indicating it is open to a World Cup in the winter of 2022. It’s a tempting offer that Qatar should not resist. In fact the hosts should grab it without any delay so that FIFA can set in motion the process of altering international schedules to accommodate the world’s most popular sporting event at a time which would provide players, fans and sponsors the ideal football experience they expect and deserve.

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said on Saturday that the tournament can be moved to winter if medical evidence proved Gulf summer time temperatures could harm players.

 It’s a no-brainer. Temperatures in Qatar easily top the 115-degree Fahrenheit mark in June and July. It’s a time when hundreds of people end up for emergency treatment for heat stroke, dehydration and other assorted ailments. Even nighttime temperatures can touch 100 degrees, which coupled with the crippling humidity, can be a nightmare scenario for sportsmen and spectators.

Of course, Qatar’s World Cup bid was based on a daring platform of mindboggling technological innovations that promised a comfortable experience for players. Fully air-conditioned stadiums with cool air bursting out through vents around the pitch may well serve the purpose, but the fact that this has not been done before at such a large scale raises some valid questions, not just about costs, but about legacy, about its effect on the environment and more importantly about the need for such ostentations when there are easier alternatives.

Valcke’s remarks at the FIFA International Board meeting in Edinburgh comes shortly after European football boss Michel Platini reiterated his backing for a winter World Cup. Responding to such previous calls, the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee has always maintained it was up to FIFA to decide if it wanted the tournament to be held in winter. Well, FIFA has now given its biggest hint that it is ready for the switch.

“FIFA has never said ‘never’, we have just said ‘we are waiting for Qatar to officially ask FIFA to look at the potential to move the World Cup from summer to winter’ and that has not happened yet.

“Qatar is perfectly aware and 2014 is not the deadline it can be even in 2015.” 

Valcke said FIFA’s executive committee would make a unilateral decision only if there were strong medical evidence in favour of a change.

“The FIFA executive committee has the power to make decisions and if at the executive committee this issue starts to be a real point for discussion then why not, and then again maybe the committee will say based on medical reports, or whatever, we really have to look at playing the World Cup not in summer but in winter.”

There is no point in waiting for medical evidence based on which FIFA can take the decision unilaterally. It would then appear that the winter World Cup is being forced upon Qatar. The hosts can easily avoid such a situation.