Moving the World Cup

[beorhthelm]

I think this is great. If we play it in January our poor little multi-millionares cant complain of being too tired.

thats another way to look at it.

but the impact would be huge, its clearly not been thought through. a 2 month pause (to allow for pre-tournement meet up and training) in the domestic season means those domestic games will be playing until the end of July, when its really too hot even in the UK, then only have a few weeks off before the next season. and Champions Leauge would be screwed. no go-er shirely?

 

[Gully]

Surely it would put FIFA at a collision course with UEFA as the Champions League would be knackered as well as the domestic leagues ?

Absolutely, and I wouldn't mind betting that whoever held the voting rights for FIFA also voted for Qatar...got his priorities wrong didn't he, chump!

 

[Gwylan]

thats another way to look at it.

but the impact would be huge, its clearly not been thought through. a 2 month pause (to allow for pre-tournement meet up and training) in the domestic season means those domestic games will be playing until the end of July, when its really too hot even in the UK, then only have a few weeks off before the next season. and Champions Leauge would be screwed. no go-er shirely?

One option that could be that the countries' leading leagues could be reduced. If every one lost two teams, that's a month off for starters and by starting and finishing a week earlier and having a couple of extra midweek games, they could cope with a WC in the middle.

One country that doesn't have that option, of course, is England as the Premier League is run separately from the FA.

 

[Gully]

thats another way to look at it.

but the impact would be huge, its clearly not been thought through. a 2 month pause (to allow for pre-tournement meet up and training) in the domestic season means those domestic games will be playing until the end of July, when its really too hot even in the UK, then only have a few weeks off before the next season. and Champions Leauge would be screwed. no go-er shirely?

Yup, looks like the climactic considerations weren't....err, considered...when the bids were looked at. The longer this goes on the more it stinks, I think it is time for Panorama to get to work and expose the whole voting and bidding shambles...then maybe the whole thing can get challenged in the courts and we will have a World Cup in 2022 somewhere decent, like Australia, where there is a chance of some sort of legacy after the tournament.

 

[Commander]

those domestic games will be playing until the end of July, when its really too hot even in the UK

Really? 18 C is too hot? They play in June in Spain and loads of other Southern European countries

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

BBC Sport - Football - Players' union wants 2022 World Cup switched to winter

 

[The Maharajah of Sydney]

Qatar are hosting the Asian Cup next month .
16 teams , 5 venues in 2 cities .

 

[Vicar!]

Absolutely, and I wouldn't mind betting that whoever held the voting rights for FIFA also voted for Qatar...got his priorities wrong didn't he, chump!

Got is priorities bang on. The bag of cash now sitting in his offshore account.

 

[Fawkesy]

unless they start to introduce a 'winter break' into English, and other countries, footballing calendar i cant see it happening myself. the only thing they have got going for them is time.

to be fair a winter break looks like a good idea if current weather is anything to go by!

 

[Mendoza]

If it was moved to the winter, then we would have no games in the time where loads of games are called off due to the weather.

Or we play on and the stronger teams have their players selected from the world cup, and the smaller teams pick up points, meaning we get a tighter league, rather Man Utd and Chelsea swapping titles

 

[Gwylan]

unless they start to introduce a 'winter break' into English, and other countries, footballing calendar i cant see it happening myself. the only thing they have got going for them is time.

I disagree. I reckon that it's odds-on that 2022 will be held in winter. If Qatar the hosts want it and FIFA wants it (which seems the case), who's going to stop it? The players? - they're in favour according to a report this morning. The countries' FAs? - it would be better for the southern hemisphere countries and most European countries have a winter break so would fit easily around that. The only real objection would probably be from England - and we saw a fortnight ago how little the English FA opinion counts.

 

[sully]

Why is it that we only ever consider the impact on our country?

Surely there are many countries who play their seasons through our summer and therefore get screwed with every World Cup? Isn't Russia one of those, for instance?

How do these countries normally deal with it?

 

[Fawkesy]

I disagree. I reckon that it's odds-on that 2022 will be held in winter. If Qatar the hosts want it and FIFA wants it (which seems the case), who's going to stop it? The players? - they're in favour according to a report this morning. The countries' FAs? - it would be better for the southern hemisphere countries and most European countries have a winter break so would fit easily around that. The only real objection would probably be from England - and we saw a fortnight ago how little the English FA opinion counts.

so do you believe that we will introduce a winter break into our game in the forseeable future? i cant see it doing any harm with all these fixtures being cancelled, but boxing day wont be the same

 

[severnside gull]

Can't see too much of a problem.....it's not as if there isn't time to plan.

So the domestic seasons for the Premier Leagues and the european competitions will have to be extended and the start of the following season delayed? So what!
No real need for lower leagues to follow suit (although our Championship will probably try to). Really don't see it as a massive issue.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Why is it that we only ever consider the impact on our country?

Surely there are many countries who play their seasons through our summer and therefore get screwed with every World Cup? Isn't Russia one of those, for instance?

How do these countries normally deal with it?

May be wrong, I thought most countries had a similar calendar to ours, except the US. Russia only has 16 teams, so thats 8 less games a season, so a months break or so, is fine.

Are there any grounds for a legal challenge to Qatar by people like the Aussies, if the competition is to go ahead on a different basis to the criteria by which it was selected or can FIFA make their own rules up as they go along ?

 

[Gwylan]

so do you believe that we will introduce a winter break into our game in the forseeable future? i cant see it doing any harm with all these fixtures being cancelled, but boxing day wont be the same

Whether we have a winter break and whether the WC will be moved are two different things. I think it's odds-on that the 2022 WC will be held in winter but I'm not so sure about the winter break - when would you have it? This winter the bad weather was November/December, last winter it was February, in other years it's been January. I think the idea of a winter break in England is dodgy as could mean no football for a couple of months in an already crowded programme.

 

[Fawkesy]

Whether we have a winter break and whether the WC will be moved are two different things. I think it's odds-on that the 2022 WC will be held in winter but I'm not so sure about the winter break - when would you have it? This winter the bad weather was November/December, last winter it was February, in other years it's been January. I think the idea of a winter break in England is dodgy as could mean no football for a couple of months in an already crowded programme.

so you think the 2022 WC and the PL (and football league) will run in parallel

cant see it myself, esp as most of the worlds best players are playing in the premier league

 

[ATFC Seagull]

If it was moved to the winter, then we would have no games in the time where loads of games are called off due to the weather.

Or we play on and the stronger teams have their players selected from the world cup, and the smaller teams pick up points, meaning we get a tighter league, rather Man Utd and Chelsea swapping titles

Exactly what happens in rugby during World Cup years - the top players disappear off twice during the season, and teams like Gloucester in England and Connacht in Ireland tend to have great seasons.

 

[Gwylan]

so you think the 2022 WC and the PL (and football league) will run in parallel

cant see it myself, esp as most of the worlds best players are playing in the premier league

But why do you think England has so much clout? The rest of the world doesn't give a shit what we want or think - as was made plain two weeks ago.

 

[cuthbert]

If Premier League players were barred from The World Cup, It seems likely that Premier League clubs would be barred from The Champions League. Top world class players would not want to sign for English clubs if they could not play in either The World Cup or The Champions League. If the top players were not playing in The Premier League Sky would be unwilling to pay so much for the TV rights. To sum up if Premier League players were withdrawn from the World Cup English clubs would lose a lot of money, it's not going to happen.
With The African Nations Cup every 2years, and The World Cup every 4 years we make get our winter break after all.