ZURICH: FIFA has launched a consultation process to decide whether to move the 2022 World Cup in Qatar away from the traditional June-July slot and will not make a decision until after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, which finishes in July, at the earliest, President Sepp Blatter said yesterday.
He said there was no question of staging the tournament elsewhere. “The 2022 World Cup will be played in Qatar. There you are,” he told a news conference after a meeting.
Blatter said all stakeholders would be involved in the consultation. “They include the players, the clubs, the leagues, the national federations, the confederations and FIFA, but it doesn’t only include sports. There are other partners, economic ones, be they from marketing, the media or television.
“We also need to bear in mind our obligations towards these partners, so we need to carry out very deep consultation and pay a great detail of attention and show some diplomacy and wisdom.”
