Franchise registrations in Saudi Arabia surge 866% over 3 years    Lulu Saudi Arabia celebrates its 15th anniversary with the grand launch of 'Super Fest 2024'    Cristiano Ronaldo's double powers Al Nassr to 3-1 win over Al Gharafa in AFC Champions League    Culture minister tours Saudi pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka    Al Ahli edges Al Ain 2-1, bolsters perfect start in AFC Champions League Elite    Saud Abdulhamid makes history as first Saudi player in Serie A    Saudi Cabinet to hold special budget session on Tuesday    King Salman orders extension of Citizen's Account Program and additional support for a full year    Al-Falih: 1,238 foreign investors obtain premium residency in Saudi Arabia    Several dead as Storm Bert wreaks havoc across Britain    Irish PM apologizes for walking away from care worker    Most decorated Australian Olympian McKeon retires    Adele doesn't know when she'll perform again after tearful Vegas goodbye    'Pregnant' for 15 months: Inside the 'miracle' pregnancy scam    Hezbollah fires rocket barrages into Israel after deadly Beirut strikes    Ukraine losing ground in Russia's Kursk region, says military source    Do cigarettes belong in a museum?    Saudi Arabia to host 28th Annual World Investment Conference in Riyadh    Riyadh Emir inaugurates International Conference on Conjoined Twins in Riyadh    Katy Perry v Katie Perry: Singer wins right to use name in Australia    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Filipino pilgrim's incredible evolution from an enemy of Islam to its staunch advocate    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



FIFA meets in Qatar for Nov-Dec WCup switch
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 23 - 02 - 2015

In this Sept. 16, 2010 file photo, Qatar presents a model of its Al-Gharafa Stadium, as the host of the 2022 World Cup, in Doha, Qatar. Global football executives will fly into Qatar this week to conclude discussions on when the 2022 World Cup should be played. — AP

LONDON — Global football executives will fly into Qatar this week to conclude discussions on when the 2022 World Cup should be played. The outcome already seems clear: football's biggest event will be played in November and December for the first time unless FIFA unexpectedly gives into European opposition.
In Doha Tuesday, powerbrokers from Europe's clubs and leagues on FIFA's Qatar task force will once again spell out the disruption that would be created by splitting their August-May seasons. But with the final scheduling decision resting with FIFA's executive committee, it seems unlikely President Sepp Blatter's desire for November-December will be overruled.
IOC President Thomas Bach has already been assured by FIFA that the World Cup will not encroach on the Winter Olympics by taking place in January and February. Asian Football Confederation President Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa indicated last month that the November-December switch had already been “resolved.”
“We are working on a final decision by the FIFA executive committee in March after a final meeting with the final stakeholders of the football community,” FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke said recently, referring to the task force gathering in Qatar.
The European Club Association and European Professional Football Leagues, that proposed a compromise May and June solution recently, will struggle to win over FIFA at this late stage.
Within the 214-member ECA there is frustration that their negotiating position was weakened by European football's governing body accepting the winter switch, although UEFA President Michel Platini advocates the January kickoff ruled out by FIFA. The ECA is going to Doha to ensure its opposition is at least registered at what is likely to be the final meeting of a task force created to make FIFA's strategy to move the World Cup to winter seem more consensual.
Once FIFA ratifies the competition dates in March, the compensation process is set to begin. European clubs and leagues want FIFA to pay the price for unsettling the domestic leagues that are the lifeblood of football and provide most of the top World Cup participants.
“If we change from summer to November or January it will affect our business,” ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has already warned. “That cost cannot be paid by the clubs. We are not ready to pay it.”
The end-game in a process that began five years ago when FIFA's bid inspectors toured Qatar and concluded that the fierce summer heat posed a high risk for players is approaching. Ignoring health warnings, FIFA's executive committee voted in December 2010 to send the World Cup to the Middle East for the first time.
“The invitation to tender was to play this World Cup in June,” Valcke confirmed within days of the FIFA vote. “That's how it was done and countries replied on this basis.”
Only later did Blatter concede that the World Cup would have to be shunted to the Gulf winter because, although air conditioned stadiums were promised, the whole country could not be cooled for visiting players, officials and fans.
Since then FIFA has been smoothing the path for a change in dates. American broadcaster Fox initially reacted by highlighting in 2013 how it bought the 2022 rights on the understanding that the World Cup would be played in June and July as usual. A legal fight could have followed since a winter World Cup clashes with the NFL season. But earlier this month, FIFA announced the sale of rights to the 2026 tournament to Fox.
FIFA declined to respond to a direct question about whether the rights extension was part of an agreement ahead of the 2022 switch. FIFA has not provided financial details of the contract, which could be worth more once the 2026 host is decided — especially if it goes to the US.
While a potential broadcasting barrier has been overcome, FIFA is still grappling with scrutiny over working conditions in Qatar.
Although World Cup organizers introduced mandatory welfare obligations for contractors in the last year, changes to the labor law were only proposed by the Qatari government in May. Qatari Sports Minister Salah Bin Ghanem Bin Nasser Al-Ali told The Associated Press in November that those reforms would gain final approval in the “next few months” but an announcement is yet to come from Doha.
But if there was to be any doubt that the World Cup will be held in Qatar — various investigations have found no corruption smoking gun — it will come when FIFA's task force tours two of the stadium building projects Tuesday afternoon. Then the local tournament organizing committee — separate from the Supreme Committee which is building the venues — is due to hold its first formal meeting Wednesday. — AP


Clic here to read the story from its source.