Nigeria Content Online

UEFA president
Michel Platini has stepped up the pressure to adopt his idea of a
winter World Cup co-hosted in several Gulf countries in 2022 by saying
it was untenable to play in the “55 degrees” desert summer heat.

Platini, a member
of the FIFA Executive Committee who gave the World Cup to Qatar last
month, has said the finals should be spread around the region, an idea
Qatari Mohammed Bin Hammam, president of the Asian Football
Confederation, has rebuffed.

FIFA has said that
at the moment there are “no concrete plans” to switch the timing of the
finals from the summer to the winter months but that statement carries
little weight.

FIFA president Sepp
Blatter said this month he “expected” the finals to be staged in winter
but the Qataris have not yet formed an organising committee for the
finals and detailed debate has not started.

Platini told
Wednesday’s edition of the French sports daily L’Equipe: “It’s
imperative to have the best possible conditions for the players, the
spectators and all those who intend to go to Qatar in 2022. It (a
winter World Cup) is not such a stupid idea is it?

“The best way to promote this competition is not to play it in 55 Celsius (131 Fahrenheit) degree heat.

“I’m in favour of
playing it in winter and sharing out the matches among several Gulf
countries. This would be good for the development of football in the
region.” Qatar won the right to stage the finals in Zurich last month
and is currently hosting the Asian Cup, the continent’s top
international tournament comprising 16 teams.

The conditions are good for soccer in Qatar in January, although several matches at night were played in very cold weather.

Referring to a
summer World Cup, Platini added: “The stadiums will be air conditioned
but the streets and the beaches won’t. When it is 55 degrees no one
goes out, while when it’s 30C degrees (86F), like in January, it’s
different. For all football lovers, a winter World Cup in several Gulf
countries would be ideal.

“I was in South
Africa (for last year’s World Cup) and at five in the evening it was
cold and already dark. In June/July 2022 in Qatar, it will be
oppressively hot.” Platini agreed that holding the World Cup in winter
would mean a change to the international soccer calendar, adding: “It’s
a complex problem. “We will know the dates of the tournament long
enough in advance to decide to stop (domestic) football for a month or
a month and a half.

“Whether it is in January, in October or in March, we can do it. Where’s the problem?” Platini asked.