UEFA Members OK Winter World Cup

UEFA's 54 member associations have given their backing to moving the Qatar World Cup in 2022 to winter.

"What has come out of this meeting is that the World Cup cannot be played in Qatar in the summer," said Britain's Fifa vice-president Jim Boyce.

"Everyone was certainly in agreement about that."

Boyce added that the debate was now regarding whether it would be played in January 2022 or November and December of that year.

The British associations want to ensure their festive fixtures are protected for their domestic league seasons, while Uefa favour January so that it would not impact on the Champions League.

But Boyce, who is also president of the Irish Football Association, says the associations do not want Fifa to rush that decision.

"There is still nine years to go and people feel Fifa should sit down with all the major stakeholders and come up with a solution that would cause the minimum disruption to football.

"There is plenty of time to do that in my opinion, and hopefully football will be the winner."

The developments come after a meeting between the associations in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Fifa's executive committee is expected to agree in principle to move the World Cup to the winter at its meeting in Zurich which begins on 3 October.

Source: Legit.ng