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29 March 2024

Platini calls for pre-Christmas World Cup in 2022

Michel Platini defends Fifa’s decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. (AFP)

Published
By AFP

UEFA president Michel Platini said on Sunday that he would like the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to be played in the month leading up to Christmas.

Concerned by soaring summer temperatures in the Gulf state, Platini is keen for the tournament to be transferred to the winter months, but tournament organisers are adamant it will take place during the summer.
“I think, I hope, that we’ll play in December,” said Platini.
“From November 20 to December 20, just before Christmas. It would be great.
“In South Africa (at last year’s World Cup), there was nothing festive, there was no life after the matches, as it was zero degrees (Celsius) in the evening.
“We can’t go to Qatar in the summer when it’s 55 degrees. When you assign a tournament 10 years in advance, you have to establish when it would be best, so that the people who go are happy.”
The World Cup traditionally takes place in June and July, and moving it to the winter would necessitate a re-organisation of the calendar in some of the world’s major league championships.
“You can finish a national championship in mid-June,” said Platini.
“And starting again after the World Cup, after Christmas, isn’t a problem. The players will have taken their holidays three months before.
“We won’t need to put in a month-long break. I think it would be good.”
The choice of Qatar, whose national team have never qualified for the World Cup, to host the 2022 tournament drew criticism in some quarters, but Platini defended Fifa’s choice to take the game across new frontiers.
“Football belongs to everyone, football is universal,” said the former France playmaker.
“Qatar in 2022 or the Under-21 European Championship in Israel in 2013, it’s good for the development of football in regions that are just as passionate about the game as in Europe, if not perhaps more passionate.”