Top Stories

Mid-Day Ticker: Blatter expects winter World Cup in 2022, blasts IOC and more

QatarReuters

By AVI CREDITOR

The 2022 FIFA World Cup might just be played in the winter after all.

After a series of high-profile soccer personalities raised the possibility of scheduling the event in the winter to avoid the high temperatures of a Qatari summer, FIFA president Sepp Blatter offered a surprisingly revealing take on the matter, which will be discussed at FIFA's executive committee meeting in March.

"I expect it to be in the winter, because when you play football you must protect the main people, the players," Blatter said at a media event in Qatar.

A winter World Cup would be the first of its kind and, among other things, would affect the schedules of all major European domestic leagues.

Here are a few more stories to get you through your Friday:

BLATTER BLASTS IOC

In defending FIFA against allegations of corruption, Blatter compared the legitimacy and transparency of FIFA to that of the International Olympic Committee, saying that the IOC "has no transparency" and operates financially "like a housewife."

According to the Associated Press, Blatter said, "Our accounts are open to everyone. … The IOC does it like a housewife. She receives some money and she spends some money."

Blatter also reportedly is not going to be creating an anti-corruption commission as he had previously stated.

SPURS CLOSE IN ON BECKHAM

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp said that his club is closing in on a loan deal for Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham and that he hopes to have him with the team as soon as Sunday.

The loan would send Beckham to North London for two months, and he would return in time for the start of the Galaxy's regular season.

MLS ORIGINAL OKAFOR DIES

Uche Okafor, a former member of the Nigerian national team and an MLS original with the then-Kansas City Wiz/Wizards, was reportedly found dead at his Dallas home Thursday morning. He was 43 years old.

Okafor played in Kansas City from 1996 to 2000 and was on the Nigeria squad that captured the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations.

CREW LOSE JERSEY SPONSOR, ADD STRIKER

Glidden will no longer be the shirt sponsor for the Columbus Crew, ending its deal with the club that began in 2008, according to the Columbus Dispatch. The paint company still will sponsor the club, just not in the capacity as its reported $1 million jersey deal.

The Crew also announced the signing of striker Tom Heinemann, who scored 14 goals last season in his time with the Charleston Battery and Carolina RailHawks.  

———————–

What do you think about the possibility of a winter World Cup? What do you make of all of Blatter's comments? Think Beckham's loan is a good thing? Saddened by the news of Okafor's passing? What do you think of the Crew's announcements?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. stupid just stupid why on earth did they choose qatar, qatar clearly stated the constructions of stadiums for there desert type of weather and now FIFA and qatar arent living up to what it should. FIFA IS A BIG ORGANIZATION whos corruption boils, I wouldnt be surprised they took briberies from big fat ceo of oil companies. what a shame what a disgrace. FIFA is gonna end football.

    Reply
  2. More proof of FIFA’s incompetence. It won’t be the first time a sports league has mismanaged itself to near exstinction. Boxing has already done it.

    Reply
  3. Because of the time difference in Qatar it’s unlikely that a winter WC will affect ESPN’s NBA/College Basketball coverage. That being said, this “bait and switch” being pulled by Blatter and Qatar is shameful and an atrocious hypocrisy.

    Reply
  4. Well as far as discussing TV/Cable networks and the broadcasts of the games, who knows what type of landscape television will have at that time. We’re talking another 12 years away. Streaming internet networks like ESPN 3 have a lot of time to develop. With changes in technology how we view what we view could be very different.

    Still, there’re a lot of other bad side affects to scheduling in the Northern Hemisphere’s winter.

    Reply
  5. Winter WC..hmm many good points have been made. Assuming ESPN/ABC will broadcast here, it’s hard to imagine ESPN is going to televise soccer over college basketball. College basketball is a mega cash cow for ESPN and some on ABC. To give that up for soccer, hmmm, hard to imagine. From the point of view of the US, it’s not a good fit. And the European leagues are going to have to give up major players for 2-3 months all tolled, hard to imagine that as well. In the future when Blatter makes these announcements, he shouldn’t stand there and talk with all that money hanging out of his pockets; it looks tacky.

    Reply
  6. what a joke! shouldn’t this have been mentioned as a possibility during the bidding process??!? there’s also been talk of qatar sharing games with neighboring countries, which was of course never mentioned prior to voting either. changing the rules after-the-fact. FIFA should be ashamed.

    Reply
  7. Every European league will fight this, and will force FIFA to keep the World Cup in the summer. Qatar will have to do it in the summer, or the World Cup will go to the 2nd place vote winner which is…….oh yea, the United States.

    Reply
  8. If Fifa and Qatar were going to push a winter WC it should have been BEFORE the vote awarding them the Cup. Its just plain unethical to now say well its going to be too hot, we have to move it. This is classic bait and switch. I bet if the proposal said if we get the WC we will move it to the winter, then Qatar would never have won. More dirty dealing in international football…what a shocker.

    Reply
  9. Blatter continues to confirm that he is nothing more than an egomaniac, homophobe and now with his “house-wife” comments he’s apparently a misogynist as well. He must be removed!!!

    Reply
  10. Blatter is a fat, corrupt, sexist, two-faced, back-stabbing, politicking, evil genius. Chapeau, my dear Sepp, you’re a worthy f***ing adversary.

    Reply
  11. It’s amazing that after FIFA originally shot down any changes to World Cup scheduling during the bid process, now they’re willing to bend over backwards.

    Money talks, lots of money screams.

    Reply
  12. Given time, the Euro leagues can adjust. I suspect they’ll start the season sooner, run later and just take a big gap in the middle (or let lower leagues play on–who knows?).

    But I worry about MLS. WC during MLS season has issues (MLS playing on, teams affected by losing players to the NT) but they’re relatively minor. While I’d prefer we play the WC in Qatar for the players’ sake and the fans’ sake, it probably makes it near impossible for any MLS players to be on the NT that year…unless they’re on loan to a Euro team. Otherwise you’re talking about guys going into camp in December or January after a 2 month layoff (or longer if they’re with a team that didn’t make the playoffs).

    And I agree that if the Qatar bid upfront had said “oh, and we’ll have to move the WC to winter” it likely wouldn’t have won.

    One last consideration (especially for those saying Qatar will lose 30-0 in their group). Anyone thing it’s possible that someone would try to “buy” referees? If you can buy a WC (with rumor that it was $1 million a vote) than why not 2-3 referees?

    Reply
  13. Why is it easier for you to get away with it in the winter than the summer? Student/professor?

    I think for most people who work all year it won’t be much different, just wearing warmer clothes.

    Reply
  14. Haha. Its definitely the easiest way for their team to qualify. Some have made the argument that this WC will serve to improve the quality of Qatar’s football substantially but this is a very different situation from USA ’94. Qatar is nowhere near the cusp of improvement needed to become a mid-tier team.

    Reply
  15. The idea about air conditioned stadiums that would then be taken apart and shipped to Africa sounded kinda ludicrous to me at the time (granted I have no background or tech knowledge about any of that kinda stuff).

    Reply
  16. Yep. Or at least if you bid then you’ve gotta discuss the possibility that you’re gonna be moving the world cup to the winter. This bid disaster keeps getting so much worse itd be laughable if I didnt care so much about it.

    Reply

Leave a Comment