Chairman of FIFA Governance Committee confident 2022 World Cup will take place as planned

Justice (Retd.) Mukul Mudgal, current chairman of the FIFA Governance Committee, said that the 2022 FIFA World Cup should be well on track to take place. He added that a vaccine against the coronavirus should come out by the end of 2021, helping the World Cup go ahead as per schedule.

In an exclusive chat with Indranil Basu on Sportskeeda’s Facebook page, Justice (Retd.) Mudgal sounded optimistic about the Qatar World Cup taking place as planned and that everyone in the world should have access to a Covid-19 vaccine by then:

“I think it should be [safe]. Because the vaccine may come by the end of the year (2021), if not the middle of 2021. By end of 2021, I think the whole world would get inoculated. 2022 seems okay. It is in Qatar,” Justice (Retd.) Mudgal, who was a judge at Delhi High Court, said.

Justice (Retd.) Mudgal’s contract as chairman of FIFA’s committee will end next May

Platini (left) and Blatter (right) were banned from football for eight years in 2015. Image Credits: Bleacher Report

He added, however, that he would no longer be serving in his current capacity because his contract would be ending in May next year. Asked whether he would seek an extension, Justice (Retd.) Mudgal said he would decide when and if he is offered a fresh deal:

“It will be beyond my tenure but I will watch as a football lover. My contract ends in May 21. I will take a call if and when...if it is offered and when it is offered."

On May 12, 2017, Justice (Retd.) Mudgal was elected as the chairman of FIFA’s Governance Committee at the world body’s 67th Congress in Bahrain. Previously, he had been presiding over international and IPL matches at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi.

He also oversaw the corruption proceedings of former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former UEFA president Michel Platini, before he was arrested over a row relating to 2022's competition.