The 2022 World Cup may not take place in Qatar due to the scorching temperatures in the Middle East country. Theo Zwanziger, FIFA Executive Committee member declared on Monday that “I personally think that in the end, the 2022 World Cup will not take place in Qatar.” Although wealthy Qatar has insisted that a summer World Cup is viable, thanks to cooling technologies it is developing for stadiums, training areas and fan zones, there is still widespread concern over the health of the players and visiting supporters.
“They may be able to cool the stadiums but a World Cup does not take place only there. Fans from around the world will be coming and travelling in this heat and the first life-threatening case will trigger an investigation by a state prosecutor. That is not something that FIFA Executive members want to answer for,” Zwanziger said.
FIFA officials said Zwanziger was not giving the view of the all-powerful Executive Committee. “He is expressing a personal opinion and he explicitly says so. We will not comment on a personal opinion,” Delia Fischer FIFA spokeswoman said. FIFA is now looking to shift the tournament to a European winter date to avoid the scorching summer where temperatures routinely rise over 40 Celsius.
Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, Asian Football Confederation, AFC president chaired a meeting to discuss the matter earlier this month with the options of January/February 2022 and November/December 2022 offered as alternatives to June/July.
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