Confusion reigns over the date of the 2022 Football World Cup, awarded by FIFA to Qatar. Initially scheduled for the summer, despite temperatures close to 40° in this Gulf region, the tournament could ultimately be brought forward to winter. The Qatari organizers, long opposed to this solution, indicated on Thursday March 21 that they would be ready to review their position. “We are ready to organize the World Cup in summer as well as in winter,” they assured. The only problem: bringing forward the competition would risk creating a form of competition with the 2022 Winter Games. And the qualifying phases, usually ended in November, would have to be brought forward by four to six months.
— Published March 22, 2013
