ASIAN Football Confederation president Mohammed Bin Hammam has ruled out holding the 2022 FIFA World Cup in winter, as well as dismissing the notion of it being shared among other Gulf nations.
FIFA boss Sepp Blatter last week said he ‘‘expected’’ the tournament could be moved to winter in order to avoid the prospect of playing in the sweltering Doha heat during June and July.
That revelation was met with much criticism by Barclays Premier League bosses, who argued it would prove impractical and cause widespread disruption to numerous domestic leagues.
UEFA president Michel Platini added fuel to the fire by suggesting the 2022 World Cup should be played across the whole of the Arabian Gulf in response to suggestions that Qatar is too small to host 32 teams.
But Bin Hammam said he is ‘‘not interested’’ in the World Cup being played in the winter and ruled out exploring the option of Qatar co-hosting the tournament with its neighbours.
‘‘It is not up to one, two or three members of FIFA to talk about changing the time without getting the real stakeholders’ opinions,’’ he said.
‘‘I know that football in Europe has quite a history, it is quite a business involving a lot of financial, media, marketing,’’ he said.
‘‘It is unfair to these people that we talk about changing the calendar or the time without their full consultation and their full approval and their full agreement.”
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