The FA thinks the 2022 World Cup must be switched FA chairman Greg Dyke says his
organisation will back any plan
to move the 2022 World Cup to
the winter months. The tournament is due to be
held in Qatar in the summer but
Dyke thinks the hot weather
there at that time of year will
necessitate a switch. Speaking at a Friday press
briefing, he said: "I don't know
how many people here have
ever been to Qatar in June. "I have, and the one thing I can
tell you is that you couldn't play
a football tournament in Qatar
in June. "Even if all the stadia are air-
conditioned, which seems in
terms of green policy a bit
strange, I just don't think it's
possible. For the fans, it would
be impossible. "So, I think my position, and I
suspect the FA's position, will
be you can't play it in the
summer in Qatar. "FIFA therefore has got two
choices. You either move it time
wise or you move it to another
location. I suspect either ends
up in some sort of litigation. "I think it's now genuinely
becoming accepted that you
can't play it in Qatar in the
summer and I think that will be
our position. "I understand the reaction of
the Premier League to not want
to move it, and I have some
sympathy with them. We didn't
have to choose to give it to
Qatar in the summer, but that's what it is. "I think it will either have to be
moved out of the summer or it
will have to be moved to
another location. And I suspect
the former is more likely than
the latter." FA general secretary Alex Horne
stressed any change to the
scheduling must be made
quickly to allow nations to move
their own league dates around. He added: "They (FIFA) need to
make that decision and it looks
like they're going to make that
decision in October. "The important point to note is
that that's only the first part of
the decision. If they decide to
move the World Cup to
somewhere else in the calendar
then it's a huge job of work. "It's a big jigsaw that'll have to
be put together and it'll take
months. The last time we did
this it took 18 months to agree
a calendar which is the one
we're looking for for 2014-18, so it won't be quick to fix it if
the decision is that we think it
should be other than in July."