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Federation Internationale de Football Association(FIFA) today announced that the 2022 Qatar World Cup would be played in November instead of the traditional June-July period. FIFA have come under huge scrutiny for their decision to offer the World Cup to Qatar.
The World Cup will kick off on the 21st of November and will last only 28 days. FIFA finally announced the switch from June-July to November-December to avoid Qatar’s summer heat.
The traditional time of hosting the event is in June after the domestic club season has ended. The 2022 World Cup will be held midway through the season as the temperatures in the host country are at least 41°C while Brazil had an average temperature of 20°C. According to the United States Department of Labor, any temperature above 40°C requires additional precautions for the employees.
Sepp Blatter recently admitted that giving Qatar the hosting rights might prove to be a mistake in an interview with a Swiss TV Channel. Blatter said, “Of course, it was a mistake. You know, one makes a lot of mistakes in life.”
“The technical report indicated clearly that it was too hot in summer, but despite that the executive committee decided with quite a big majority that the tournament would be in Qatar,” Blatter, who himself voted for the United States, concluded.
In the statement released by FIFA they said, “Approval of the international match calendar for the 2018-2024 period, including the competition dates for the 2022 FIFA World Cup™ to be staged from 21 November to 18 December 2022.”
FIFA also announced that UEFA would have five slots in the FIFA U-17 and U-20 World Cups from 2017. The remaining slot will be awarded to the Oceanian Football Confederation (OFC), who will now have two slots instead of just one.
FIFA now face a challenge as they will have to convince clubs to release players for the World Cup in the midst of a club season and then rejoin after the tournament. A season usually starts in August and concludes in May. The clubs might have to change their season format a year before the World Cup to give the National teams enough time to prepare of the most watched sporting event in the World.
