Qatar denies thirds replacing halves at World Cup

Organisers of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar have denied claims that the two-half format of football could be replaced with a three thirds format as suggested by an engineer of its air-conditioned stadiums.

They added that comments previously made by Michael Beavon, a director of Arup Associates, at a conference in London on Wednesday were "without any foundation".

"Splitting the games held during the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar has not been discussed at any time," the statement from the 2022 Qatar World Cup bid team said.

"Statements on this subject made by Mr Beaven from ARUP are without any foundation. All 64 games in 2022 will be played in carbon neutral cooled stadiums in two halves of forty-five minutes as per regulations."

The statement added that representatives from Arup were "not spokespeople for Qatar 2022".

On Thursday, it was reported that FIFA ‘guidance’ could allow games at the Qatar 2022 World Cup finals to be split into three 30-minute ‘thirds’ rather than the traditional 45-minute halves due to dangerous heat levels.

Arup Associates director Michael Beavon said: “There is a moderate risk of heat injury to the players between 24C-29C but if you go above that you have high and extreme risk of injury.

“The one thing FIFA do say, although it is for guidance, is if it’s 32C they will stop a match and play three 30-minute thirds rather than two 45-minute halves.

“The reason would be to re-hydrate the players before they could carry on playing. That of course would play havoc with TV schedules and those kind of things,” Beavon added.

Arup helped develop the zero-carbon solar technology that will help cool the 12 stadiums that Qatar is building to host the tournament.

Qatar was awarded the World Cup in December last year, and is spending an estimated $57bn on infrastructure to ensure that it is ready to host the tournament in a decade’s time.