World Cup 2022: Premier League, FA Draw Lines in Heated Battle over Qatar Finals

Football Association chairman Greg Dyke has placed the governing body in direct opposition to the Premier League over the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar, reports Sam Wallace of The Independent.

Debate has raged over the staging of the finals in the Middle East country ever since it was awarded the tournament in December 2010.

With temperatures reaching 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit in June and July, even Trip Advisor recommends avoiding the country during the summer if you are not a fan of hot weather.

FIFA had insisted that the finals would be played in air-conditioned stadia, but even such a luxury has not persuaded Dyke that the competition should take place in the summer heat of the country.

"

I don’t know how many people have been to Qatar in June. I have. The one thing I can tell you is you can't play a football tournament in Qatar in June.

Even if all the stadia are air-conditioned – which seems a bit strange in terms of the green policy – it would be impossible for the fans. Just go out there, wander around in that sort of heat.

The FA's position will be you can’t play it in summer in Qatar. FIFA therefore has two choices; you either move it, and you either move it in time or to another location.

I suspect either ends up in some sort of litigation but then someone should have worked that out in 2010 when it was awarded.

It's genuinely becoming accepted that you can't play it in Qatar in the summer. That would be our position.

"

Dyke's predecessor at the FA, David Bernstein, was against the idea of staging the finals in the winter months in Qatar, as ESPN reported.

Bernstein believes moving the finals would leave the bidding process for the 2022 finals "fundamentally flawed," with competing host nations making their move for a summer tournament.

Germany legend Franz Beckenbauer, who is a FIFA executive committee member, has called for a change to the European domestic calendar to accommodate a winter finals in Qatar, as Robin Bairner of Goal.com reported in 2010.

And Dyke also believes that is a potential resolution to the problem.

"

I understand the reaction of the Premier League to not want to move it. I have some sympathy with them. They didn't have to choose to give it to Qatar in the summer but that's where it is.

It will either have to be moved out of the summer or another location. I suspect the former is more likely than the latter.

"

Last month, Ben Rumsby of the Daily Telegraph reported that FIFA president Sepp Blatter was prepared to move the finals to the winter if the world governing body executive voted in favour of the switch at a meeting this October.

The Premier League, however, is steadfastly against the idea of switching the domestic programme in England to allow for a winter World Cup finals.

EPL chief executive Richard Scudamore is against switching the dates of the finals and argued that the tournament should be given to another country if Qatar cannot stage it in the summer, as The Independent reported.

"

If the Qataris are unable to host a proper World Cup tournament in the summer, they shouldn't have been awarded it. That is my simple view.

The world has a calendar that is geared around having those two months in the summer to host a World Cup.

If you can't fulfil the criteria, you should take it somewhere that can.

"

In the same article, Scudamore dismisses the idea of legal action being taken and claims it's not an option he wants to consider, but the situation will have to come to a head soon.

The Premier League chief believes switching the finals to the summer months will lead to renegotiations in broadcast deals and player contracts, according to The Guardian.

The next step in the process will come in October when the FIFA executive committee will meet to discuss the finals, as CNN reported.

The Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, meanwhile, is happy to play along with either a summer or winter tournament, as Dan Roan of BBC Sport reported.

The 2022 World Cup finals have been at the centre of controversy ever since Qatar defeated South Korea, Japan, Australia and the United States in the race to stage the 2022 finals.

FIFA investigator Michael J. Garcia was called in November 2012 to look into allegations of bribery, as reported by The Guardian.

But could it actually be something as mundane as the weather that finally brings an end to the controversial award?