David Bernstein suggests re-bidding for 2022 World Cup

David Bernstein

Former Football Association chairman David Bernstein suggested a re-bid for the FIFA Word Cup 2022 and not a reschedule from summer to winter.

He said: “My end view is either that it should be left where it is or there should be a rebidding process. It was a strange award in the first place, we all know that.

“It’s a huge issue. My personal view on this is unchanged. In 2010 FIFA awarded two World Cups at the same time. It was a controversial thing to do and I believe that FIFA regret doing it now.

“Bidding for a World Cup is a serious business. There is a lot of money and national prestige involved.

“The bid that Qatar submitted was a summer bid. It was accepted by FIFA as a summer bid so I don’t believe that it is impossible to hold the competition in the summer.

“It may be undesirable, with fans coming out of cool stadiums into boiling heat is clearly an issue.

“But I think the idea of just arbitrarily changing from summer to winter smacks of what I would call a false prospectus.”

He further added: “It’s not just the Premier League, I think all the European leagues and maybe leagues and competitions outside of Europe will feel the same about this.

“It is a massive thing. It will not affect just one season but, I believe, three seasons – those either side of 2022. It’s a very big thing to do.

“I just think to fundamentally bid on one basis for something as massive as this and then just to change it afterwards cannot be right.”

Qatar beat South Korea, Japan, Australia and the United States to host the 2022 competition and its World Cup organizing committee says it is ready to host the tournament in the summer.