DOHA: FIFA executive committee member Mohamed Bin Hammam is open to discuss changing the 2022 World Cup to the cooler winter months. The Qatari, who is also the president of the Asian Football Confederation, has repeatedly said that he wants the World Cup to be in the summer months. But Thursday, Bin Hammam softened his stance. “I'm not opposed but I'm not proposing,” Bin Hammam said, adding that any discussion should not take place until after 2018, when Russia will host the World Cup. FIFA President Sepp Blatter has supported moving the tournament to avoid the searing heat in Qatar, and several other top football executives in Europe have agreed. FIFA executive committee member Franz Beckenbauer was the first to suggest the idea, and he was followed by UEFA President Michel Platini. Blatter said it was worth studying and FIFPro, which represents professional football players worldwide, said the event “must be held in winter.” But the big football clubs remain unconvinced. They are reluctant to change the international calendar and are concerned over a loss of revenue from breaking up the season. Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup last month despite concerns over temperatures which routinely exceed 40 degrees C. Soon after it beat out the United States, Australia, Japan and South Korea, a growing list of football executives began calling for moving the tournament to January when it is much cooler in Qatar. Thursday, FIFA put out a statement reiterating that there were not yet any plans to move the tournament. “At this stage, there are no concrete plans to change the international match calendar,” the statement said. “Any potential move of the 2022 FIFA World Cup from a summer to a winter period would have to be initiated by the Football Association of Qatar and would have to be presented to the FIFA executive committee.” FIFA has said that Qatar has not requested a date change and a spokesman for the bid said it will not make any comment until after an organizing committee is formed in the coming weeks. In December, Bin Hammam told a football conference that it would benefit players to move the tournament to January. He said a winter World Cup would ensure players would be in better shape and wouldn't be exhausted after completing a grueling season. But last week, he told Sky News that Qatar would be “ready in June, July and we said we are going to face all the challenges and we are going to meet all the requirement. Our focus is June, July.” Bin Hammam, who is considering a possible run for the FIFA presidency, also told Sky that he sympathizes with the European clubs which would be hit hardest by a change. After attending a children's football tournament in Doha Thursday, Bin Hammam said he found it strange that there was so much attention being given to the 2022 World Cup when there are several other tournaments in the next decade. “It's quite bizarre,” he said. “The World Cup 2014 is just three years from today and no one is speaking about it. It's quite uncomfortable for me.” Blatter's earlier comment led to suggestions that FIFA was effectively changing the rules as the contest for the 2022 World Cup, in which Qatar beat Australia, the United States, Japan and South Korea, was based around a June-July tournament. US media called for the contest to be staged again if the tournament was moved from its original spot. Qatar has insisted that the fierce summer heat will not be a problem as all its stadiums will be air-conditioned. It has also said the stadiums can be dismantled at the end and shipped off to developing nations. However, this has failed to allay fears about the summer weather. Philipp Lahm, who captained Germany at last year's World Cup, said it would be “madness” to stage a summer World Cup in the Middle East.
