Divided opinion as World Cup in Qatar set for December final
The decision by the Fifa task force was little surprise, given the extreme summer temperatures in Qatar, but the recommended timing of the tournament to end in “late December” came as a shock, especially to football in Britain, where the festive programme is so important to clubs.
There have been suggestions that Fifa’s executive committee, which meets in Zurich on March 19 and 20 for a final decision on the dates, will consider holding the final as late as December 23.
The proximity to Christmas would cause opposition from parts of Europe — and not least England where FA chairman Greg Dyke has vowed to fight to protect the traditional club programme.
Britain’s Fifa vice-president Jim Boyce said moving the World Cup to winter was a “common sense” decision but will oppose any move to hold the final on December 23.
Boyce said: “I think that is too close to Christmas — that’s the only reservation I would have. I think common sense has prevailed. It will cause a lot of disruption but it is eight years away and people should have enough time to make it work.”
Some observers believe suggesting December 23 is a tactic to allow Fifa to offer a compromise of December 18, which also happens to be Qatar’s national day and falls on a Sunday, the traditional day that World Cup finals are held.
The task force announced its recommendation for a “late November to late December” World Cup following a meeting in Doha, and also said that the tournament should be shortened, possibly by three or four days.
Clubs and leagues will also press for reducing the period before the tournament where players have to be released and cutting the number of international dates that year.
A Fifa statement confirmed the task force recommended a shorter tournament in November and December. January/February was ruled out because of the Winter Olympics, Ramadan made April unavailable, while the climate blocked the World Cup being played between May and September.
The statement said the task force was exploring the option of staging the Confederations Cup in another Asian confederation country during the traditional June/July window in 2021, and using another Fifa competition such as the Club World Cup as the operational test event for Qatar in November/December 2021.
The leagues and clubs had pushed for a May/June tournament but that was ruled out on grounds of heat, but they are expected to push for a reduced preparation period beforehand and a cut in the number of international dates during the season.
Gary Neville, the former Manchester United defender and now England coach, said football had to “get over” the disruption the 2022 World Cup would cause. He told talkSPORT: “The World Cup’s hardly a tin-pot competition... we’ve got to get over it. Football’s a world game.”
No, not yet — only that “late November to late December” is being recommended by the Fifa task force. There have been suggestions the final could be as late as December 23. Fifa’s executive committee will decide on March 20.
That date would be too near Christmas for European liking, and is a Friday in 2022. A more likely date would be Sunday, December 18.
The Premier League, Champions League and Europa League will all be affected as they will have to reschedule matches due to be played in November and December.
It is likely the European club season will finish at the end of June rather than May.
It would also be very possible for other leagues without many World Cup players — like England’s Championship — to continue after the World Cup group stage has finished.
The African Nations Cup and Copa America could be moved
This will be part of the trade-off for clubs and leagues, who will be pushing for there to be no more than two weeks between their competitions halting and the World Cup beginning.
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