The 2022 World Cup is scheduled be held in Qatar, the first time in history that the tournament will take place in the Middle East, but summer temperatures there are known to go over 120 degrees Fahrenheit. For that reason FIFA president Sepp Blatter will ask the governing body's executive committee if they would consider moving the tournament to the winter time:
FIFA President asks for winter World Cup in Qatar
Over concerns that the Middle East will be too hot to play soccer in during the summer, the FIFA president will urge the executive committee to move the event to the winter time. How could this effect the schedules of other leagues around the world?
Bryn Lennon
“If this World Cup is to become a party for the people, you can’t play football in the summer,” Blatter said Wednesday. “You can cool down the stadiums but you can’t cool down the whole country.”
There has been much concern over the selection of Qatar as the host for 2022 over fellow finalists Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the United States, but perhaps the most basic is that the summer heat could be too much for partners of the World Cup. Though the stadiums can be cooled down, those partners that are working outside of the stadium itself could be in trouble with those kinds of temperatures.
Moving the tournament to the winter would also interfere with some European soccer league schedules, which is another matter that will need to be dealt with. Blatter believes there is still time to do that.
More from SB Nation:
See More:
