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Fifa president Sepp Blatter is greeted by AFC president Mohammed bin Hammam upon his arrival at the airport in Doha for an official visit to Qatar on December. 16, 2010. (AP)
Fifa President Sepp Blatter said on Friday he personally supported the idea of the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar being held in winter.
"I definitely support to play in winter here (in the Middle East)," Blatter told a news conference at the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi.
"To play when the climate is appropriate and I'm thinking about the footballers, not only the fans but the actors," he said referring to the intense heat of summer in Qatar.
Since Qatar was awarded the staging of the 2022 finals earlier this month, there have been suggestions from leading figures like Franz Beckenbauer that the FIFA calendar should be altered for that year.
He further said several Gulf countries "are interested" in hosting games at the 2022 World Cup.
Blatter, who this week met with soccer officials in Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait as well as Qatar during a tour of the region, said any decision to spread games would have to come from Qatar, which earlier this month won the right to host the tournament.
He would not say whether Qatar officials expressed a position in meetings with Blatter on Thursday and so far the country's 2022 World Cup bid committee has been silent on the topic.
In its bid proposal, the tiny desert nation played up the fact that it could host "compact" World Cup where all the matches would be within an hour of one another in Qatar.
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