BackFifa’s debate over Qatar
Valcke's comment on a possible winter World Cup has given the controversy a fresh lease of life
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By jumping the gun and making an impromptu announcement last week that the 2022 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (Fifa) World Cup in Qatar would be shifted to the winter, was general secretary Jérôme Valcke trying to convey that the world football governing body has already made up its mind on the issue and that everybody else must now fall in line?
Of course, there was an immediate contradiction issued by Fifa, which insisted that the Frenchman, the second most powerful man in football after Fifa president Sepp Blatter, was speaking in his personal capacity.
However, it may be hard to ignore Valcke’s comments. Valcke spoke to a French radio station and stated that “the dates for the World Cup (in Qatar) will not be in June-July" but “it’ll be held between 15 November and 15 January at the latest". This flies in the face of the Fifa executive committee’s decision in October that it would undertake a wide consultation process with all stakeholders and no decision on this volatile issue would be taken before the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. No one was supposed to speak on the issue. A peeved Union of European Football Associations (Uefa) chief Michel Platini, a member of Fifa’s executive committee who voted in favour of Qatar 2022, told French newspaper L’Equipe, “If the decision has already been made then it (the committee) does not even need to meet."
With Blatter himself having expressed his preference for such a shift on an earlier occasion, it certainly looks like the two wise men have made up Fifa’s mind for the rest. The oil-rich desert kingdom was shockingly awarded the 2022 rights by the Fifa executive committee in Zurich in December 2010, at the same time that Russia won the right to host it in 2018, amid allegations that the process was compromised. The allegations were denied by both countries. Qatar, which uses sport to project its soft power on the global pitch, has also faced flak for its repressive labour laws and human rights violations in construction projects for the World Cup.
The Arab nation got the nod because it promised that the tournament would be played in air-conditioned stadiums to negate the searing heat (temperatures of around 50 degrees Celsius) that could seriously impair both players and fans. The whole promise looks too mind-boggling. It is not only the air-conditioned stadiums, Qatar will have to also build air-conditioned practice facilities for the teams and put a lot more infrastructure under air conditioning so that the exposure of teams and fans to the killer heat is kept to a minimum. There is also the problem of serving alcohol in the stadiums (Budweiser is a World Cup sponsor) and the issue of homosexuality, both of which are illegal in Qatar. Fifa realized in double-quick time that it had scored a dubious own-goal and suggestions were floated to move the World Cup from its summer (June-July) slot to the winter.
This move, however, is fraught with consequences, as it would disrupt the lucrative European and other national leagues, causing inconvenience and financial turbulence to clubs, national associations and broadcasters. A Premier League spokesman conveyed its opposition to the idea in clear terms to the UK’s Press Association Sport: “The prospect of a winter World Cup is neither workable nor desirable for European domestic football."
Television networks like Fox Sports, which paid $425 million (around ₹ 2,600 crore) for the rights to the 2018 and 2022 editions, have also reportedly expressed dismay as it will clash with the US’ National Football League season. The Football Federation of Australia (FFA) has threatened to ask for $43 million in compensation if the dates are shifted.
“Changing the dates is tantamount to changing the rules after the contest is over. If that happens, compensation should be paid to those nations that invested many millions, and national prestige, in bidding for a summer event," Frank Lowy, FFA chairman, said in a reaction to the development. “Australia, like the other bidding nations, was required by Fifa’s own rules to pitch for a World Cup in the June and July window."
Valcke had earlier ruled out compensation to parties affected by the shift but will Fifa be able to browbeat its constituents into submission without offering any sops in exchange?
There have also been calls for a re-vote for both 2018 and 2022, given the allegations that the process was tainted and Fifa was a den of vice back then. It is suggested that a new vote would look more credible now since Fifa has tried to reform itself in the interregnum.
British investigative reporter Andrew Jennings, whose book Foul! and the BBC’s investigative Panorama programme are searing exposes of Fifa fiddles, is convinced that a World Cup will not happen in Qatar. “The temperatures in the summer are impossible and in winter it will not happen, period. The European leagues will not stand for it," he told Foxsports.com.au. “If you were managing Man United, Real Madrid or Chelsea, would you let your valuable players go play in a roasting sandpit? Forget it."
Now that a 2022 summer World Cup in Qatar looks virtually ruled out, it will be interesting to see which way the cookie crumbles.
Mario Rodrigues is a senior sports journalist based in Mumbai.
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