(MENAFN- Arab Times) NEW YORK Feb 19 (AFP): Staging the 2022 Qatar World Cup in November and December to avoid blazing summer heat is ''a done deal'' Sports Illustrated reported on its website Wednesday. Citing multiple sources the magazine''s report said the decision has been made saying a FIFA task force will make the November-December timing recommendation next week at a meeting in Doha and FIFA''s executive committee will finalize the plan when it meets next month in Zurich.
Just three weeks ago FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke told France-Info radio the World Cup in Qatar should be staged in winter but clashing with the 2022 Winter Olympics in February was also a concern. The report said the current plan was to impact only one European club season with clubs hoping to trim some international match dates to achieve but there was no firm plan regarding the FIFA Confederations Cup typically staged the year before the World Cup in the host nation as a test run for the globall football showdown.
In December the European Clubs Association and European Professional Football Leagues indicated a strong preference for playing the 2022 World Cup from May to June. Just last week FIFA extended the US media rights to the World Cup for four years through 2026 with Fox and NBC Universal-owned Spanish language network Telemundo. The move came without opening the events up for bidding a shock especially given the United States might bid for the 2026 World Cup.
At the time there was speculation the move was a sign that the 2022 World Cup would move to the winter a major hit for North American rights-holders given the more filled TV sports landscape in a November-December time frame compared to the usual June-July scheduling. Giving rights-holders another World Cup could make up for financial losses a change in timing could bring.
Meanwhile former Portugal winger Luis Figo launched his campaign for the FIFA presidency on Thursday by revealing plans to expand the World Cup to up to 48 teams. Unveiling his manifesto at Wembley Stadium in London the 42-year-old said the expansion of the quadrennial tournament from its current 32-team format would be ''weighted towards non- European teams''. One of his proposals for the World Cup is to split it into two 24-team tournaments played simultaneously on two different continents followed by a final knockout stage in one country. He said the expanded format which could be a 40-team or 48-team World Cup would only add three or four days to the duration of the tournament.
Another of his key proposals is the distribution of half of FIFA''s revenues $2.5 billion (2.19 billion euros) to national associations for spending on grassroots football. The former Barcelona and Real Madrid superstar also called for the restoration of the ''old'' interpretation of the offside rule ''where a player is judged offside whether directly involved in the play or not''. Other suggestions included a debate about the use of extra technology and the testing of sin-bins for incidents of ''unsporting behaviour to referees''. Figo is standing against incumbent Sepp Blatter Dutch football chief Michael van Praag and FIFA vice-president for Asia Prince Ali bin Al Hussein in the FIFApresidential election on May 29. Like van Praag and Ali Figo has called for the world governing body to become more transparent following a series of corruption scandals under long-serving president Blatter. ''Mr Blatter I respect him as I respect all the other candidates'' Figo said. ''He''s been leading the organisation for many years and has made many positive achievements for football but I think sometimes a point is reached when change is needed.'' Figo played down suggestions that the three challengers to 78-year-old Blatter who is standing for a fifth term will eventually pool their resources by rallying behind one candidate. ''I don''t know if with one we''d be more strong or not'' he said.
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