General

Sepp Blatter, Jerome Valcke Open To Possibility Of Winter World Cups

Dec 16, 2010, 6:13 PM UTC

Since Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup the two major areas of concern have been human rights and climate. If only we could make as much progress on the former as we might make on the environmental concerns, because a winter World Cup is getting far more consideration than the dangers of man hugs.

That was the word today from FIFA president Sepp Blatter as well as the body’s general secretary, Jerome Valcke, each of whom were open to the idea of shifting the World Cup from June 2022 to January, when the average temperatures are 40 degrees (Fahrenheit) cooler.

For Blatter, speaking to journalists in Qatar, the safety of the players was a chief concern:

"FIFA's job is to have a World Cup that protects the players so we take note of the recommendations and go through the list of requirements," Blatter told journalists in Qatar in his first visit since the tiny Gulf nation was awarded the World Cup earlier this month. "We will look into this and make the right decision."

That may be one of the more concrete definitions of FIFA that I’ve ever heard, though it’s nice to know the protection of its players is on FIFA’s radar. For a moment I though FIFA was pro-heat stoke.

Sarcasm aside, Jerome Valcke’s rationale rings a little less hollow, reasoning that’s not difficult to get behind. Asked about the possibility of moving the World Cup to January, the secretary general reversed the question, asking why the competition should stay embedded in June-July.

"Why not? It means you open the World Cup to countries where they can never play it in June and July because it's never the right period of time," Valcke told The Associated Press. "If you can do so, it would be a solution to open the organization of the World Cup to a number of countries in this period which is winter in Europe but not winter in the rest of the world."

At least this Valcke guy’s worth listening to. Ways for more countries to hold World Cups? OK, I’m on board, and how hard could it be? Just shift the date, right?

Sure, as long as you can get the club world on board, and we all know how much European clubs like having their practices being dictated to them but FIFA. It’s something Valcke knows will be an issue:

"You can't just make a decision to move the tournament and that is it," he said. "It means you have to change completely when the leagues will play, mainly I would say in Europe. It's less difficult in the rest of the world."

Ultimately, it would be inane to think FIFA can’t hold World Cups in one of the months not named June or July, particularly considering we’re 12 years removed from 2022’s kick-off. If a country can build air conditioned stadiums that can be torn down and moved anywhere in the world, why can’t a date in an address book shift by a few pages? And I say this with no special empathy for Qatar. As a general principle, the idiosyncrasies of a country’s June/July climate need not be determinative to their hosting viability.

Such a principle would help Blatter continue to make the World Cup accessible to more of the world.

"Now the Middle East has also got its first World Cup," he said. "The philosophy of football is that it should be accessible to everybody. It has happened now."

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