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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2015 20 Sport SPORTTODAY FOOTBALL FIFA recommends 2022 World Cup to take place in winter The FIFA task force looking into dates for the Qatar World Cup has recommended a shorter tournament to be staged in November and December 2022, the head of the Asian Football Confederation told reporters on Tuesday THE FIFA task force has recommend- ed that the 2022 World Cup is played from late November to late December at its final meeting in Doha The task force has also proposed a shorter tournament in compensation for moving it to the winter in order to avoid the fierce heat of the Middle East in June and July. FIFA's executive committee meet- ing in Zurich on March 19 and 20 will now make the final decision on when the tournament is played. There are no plans to reduce the size of the tournament from 32 teams or 64 matches, but the tournament would be shortened by a matter of days, with some commentators spec- ulating it could run from November 26 to December 23. A FIFA statement read: "The pro- posed event dates have the full sup- port of all six confederations. The proposal will be discussed at the next meeting of the FIFA executive com- mittee, scheduled to take place at the home of FIFA in Zurich on 19 and 20 March 2015. "The outcome of the discussions is also a proposed reduced competition days schedule with the exact dates to be defined in line with the match schedule and number of venues to be used for the 22nd edition of football's flagship event." A shift to November-December faces resistance from European clubs who fear major disruption to the Champions League and domes- tic leagues, with an alternative May- June proposal put forward, but FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke said: "There is one solution, November- December." Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al- Khalifa, the chairman of the task force and head of the Asian Football Confederation, added: "Some people have concerns, but whatever decision you're going to take will have some questions about it. But we need to look at the overall benefit of every- body. "We are very pleased that, after care- ful consideration of the various opin- ions and detailed discussions with all stakeholders, we have identified what we believe to be the best solution for the 2018-2024 international match calendar and football in general. "It was a challenging task and I want to thank all members of the football community for their productive in- put and constructiveness in helping to find a solution that we believe can work for everyone." UEFA, which is one of FIFA's six confederations, said it supported the recommendation made by the task force for the World Cup to be played in late November to late December 2022. A statement read: "UEFA believes that - for the benefits of players and fans - the event should be played in winter and now awaits the final de- cision from the FIFA executive com- mittee meeting. "UEFA sees no major issues in re- scheduling its competitions for the 2022/23 season, should the 2022 FIFA World Cup proposal be approved by the FIFA executive committee, and UEFA acknowledges that the com- petition may be shortened and thus that the release period of players be reduced." English FA chairman keen to protect festive games ENGLISH football's chiefs have lined up to vow they will fight to protect the traditional festive pe- riod for club matches after a FIFA task force recommended a winter World Cup in Qatar 2022 finishing in late December. FIFA's executive committee will make the final decision on dates next month, and the Football As- sociation, the Premier League and Britain's FIFA vice-president are all set to push for the final to be on December 18 rather than, as some have mooted, on December 23 - just two days before Christmas and which would disrupt all Boxing Day and New Year's matches. December 18 is Qatar's national day and also falls on a Sunday, tra- ditionally the day that World Cup finals are held and early enough in the month to allow the festive club programme to take place. Asked about the final being held as late as December 23, FA chair- man Greg Dyke told Press Associa- tion Sport: "We will have to wait to hear the detail but we will try to protect all the traditional Christ- mas dates." Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore, who was on the task force that met in Doha on Tuesday, said a final in late Decem- ber could see the whole Christmas and New Year fixture programme removed. Scudamore said: "We are ex- tremely disappointed with the FIFA Task Force recommenda- tion to move the 2022 FIFA World Cup to a November and December schedule. "The prevailing view from the leagues has been that displacing the 2022 World Cup significantly from the original summer dates dispro- portionately impacts the sporting integrity of our competitions. "Our particular concern is that a FIFA World Cup that finishes late in December could result in dam- aging one of the English game's great traditions and attractions, with the removal of the entire Pre- mier League, Football League and FA Cup Christmas and New Year fixture programme that season. "Clearly there is still time within the process to consider our posi- tion further, but first we will con- sult with our clubs, other stake- holders in English football, and other leagues before deciding on what, if any, further action might be appropriate or worthwhile." Dyke said the best option would be for FIFA to move the World Cup from Qatar but that the choice of November/December was "the best of the bad options". He said: "I have said from the start we cannot possibly play in the summer in Qatar, it would be ridiculous to play then. "The best option would be to not hold it in Qatar but we are now be- yond that, so November/December would seem to be the best of the bad options. "It will clearly disrupt the whole football calendar as it means club football stopping at the end of Oc- tober. "You might be able to keep the disruption to one season if you start earlier and end later but it's going to be tough - and unneces- sary because we would not be do- ing this if FIFA had done their work properly. "We were of the view that No- vember/December would be better than January/February - but that wouldn't be the case for some Eu- ropean countries who have a win- ter break in January." FIFA's technical report into the bidding countries for the 2022 World Cup had warned of the dan- gers of playing in the heat of the summer, but that did not prevent the executive committee voting for the Middle Eastern country. Dyke added: "This is something FIFA brought on itself by not read- ing the report of the safety inspec- tor. It tells you the technical as- sessment was not being used as the basis for the decision." Britain's FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce, from Northern Ireland, said moving the World Cup to the win- ter was a "common sense" decision but that a final on December 23 would be too close to Christmas and the traditional festive match- es. Boyce told Press Association Sport: "I think that is too close to Christmas - that's the only reserva- tion I would have and I would like it a week earlier, but I want to wait until the FIFA executive commit- tee meeting to hear all the details about the dates. "I welcome the fact all the stake- holders have been involved and al- though this is not going to please everyone I think common sense has prevailed. "It will cause a lot of disruption but it is eight years away and peo- ple should have enough time to make it work." Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the chairman of the European Clubs' Association, warned that the clubs would expect financial compensa- tion for the disruption. Rummenigge said: "Today's rec- ommendation of the task force re- garding the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar does not come as a sur- prise; it was rather expected. For the football family the reschedul- ing of the World Cup presents a difficult and challenging task. "All match calendars across the world will have to accommodate such a tournament in 2022/23, which requires everyone's willing- ness to compromise. However, the European clubs and leagues cannot be expected to bear the costs for such rescheduling. "We expect the clubs to be com- pensated for the damage that a fi- nal decision would cause." Sepp Blatter announcing the 2022 World Cup venue