International Players Union Calls for Winter World Cup in 2022

The World Union of Professional Footballers has demanded the 2022 World Cup be held in winter in order to escape the sweltering heat of summer in Qatar.

Temperatures can rise to 122 degrees fahrenheit in the Gulf Coast nation, during which time the Qatari tourist board advises holiday makers to stay away.

Tijs Tummers, secretary of FIFPro’s Technical Committee, said: "It is not sensible to award a World Cup in the summer to a country with an average temperature of 41ºC in June and July, a midday temperature of 50ºC and above all, extremely high humidity."

"...The organisers have guaranteed that the temperature inside the stadiums and at the training centres will be reduced to 27 ºC by means of air-conditioning. That is all well and good, but it obviously does not fit in with ecological thinking, which we expect to be even more widespread by 2022."

FIFPro believe moving the tournament to January is entirely feasible and the logistics very much manageable.

The move might even see better football played as a result.

"Space will have to be made for the tournament, even though many countries already have a winter break," Tummers said.

"In Europe, competitive matches will have to be played in August and the second half of May and the first half of June. If you look at what happened last weekend with weather problems in Europe because of heavy snowfall, you could see this as an advantage rather than as a problem.

"And it might perhaps turn out that the players will be fitter at the start of a winter World Cup than was the case last summer at the World Cup in South Africa."