On Tuesday, FIFA is expected to officially announce that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be moved to November and December, a move that will not sit well with a number of professional clubs that will have to interrupt their seasons in an unprecedented fashion.
In exchange for such a move, representatives from European leagues on FIFA’s 2022 task force are expected to ask that the World Cup be shortened that year, both in terms of the actual event and in the preparation for it.
One anonymous task force member who is in favor of such an abbreviated calendar laid out his reasoning while talking to the Press Association (via the Guardian):
“The leagues have been forceful in arguing that you only need two weeks’ preparation beforehand rather than the usual three or four, and that the tournament does not need to be as long as the 32 days it was in Brazil.
“The players from northern hemisphere clubs – which is the majority – will be fresher than usual and the logistics of Qatar mean it will be less than two hours’ drive to every stadium so there will be no travel days for teams.
“For example you probably don’t need five days between the semi-final and final – 72 hours should be long enough.”
Qatar is only 4,467.6 square miles, which is smaller than the state of Connecticut.
FIFA is moving the 2022 World Cup because the searing summertime temperatures in Qatar make any sort of athletic endeavor impossible. According to the Press Association, the European Clubs’ Association is lobbying FIFA to move the tournament to May and June instead of November and December, though they realize they have little chance of success. Some also have proposed moving it to January and February, but FIFA does not want the World Cup to clash with the Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl.
After spending the first 17 years of his Post career writing and editing, Matt and the printed paper had an amicable divorce in 2014. He's now blogging and editing for the Early Lead and the Post's other Web-based products.
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