FIFA recommends shorter, winter 2022 World Cup

The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is likely to take place between the end of November and the end of December, if proposals put forward by the football governing body’s Task Force are approved.

Following a six-month consultation process, the FIFA Task Force selected the dates, saying they were the “only remaining effective option” and adding that there was already support from all six regional football confederations.

With the intense heat in Qatar between May and September, a traditional Summer World Cup was ruled out, while the Winter Olympics in February and Ramadan through most of April meant those dates were also out of the question.

Following its discussions, the Task Force is also proposing a reduced competition days schedule, with the exact dates to be defined in line with the match schedule and number of venues to be used. The most recent World Cup, in Brazil last year, lasted 32 days.

“We are very pleased that, after careful consideration of the various opinions and detailed discussions with all stakeholders, we have identified what we believe to be the best solution for the 2018-2024 international match calendar and football in general,” said Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President and FIFA Executive Committee member Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, who chaired the Task Force.

“It was a challenging task and I want to thank all members of the football community for their productive input and constructiveness in helping to find a solution that we believe can work for everyone.”

The proposal should get the rubber stamp at the next meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee, set to take place at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich on March 19-20.

Moving the World Cup to that date is also likely to lead to a number of adjustments to the international and club football schedules, the Task Force has noted.

In recent years, the FIFA Confederations Cup has been held in the June/July window in the same host country as the following year’s World Cup.

However, for the 2021 edition, the Task Force explored whether it could be relocated to another AFC country and still be held in that window.

Instead, as an operational test event, Qatar would host the FIFA Club World Cup in November/December 2021.