Soccer’s global ruling body won’t compensate European clubs for rearranging the dates of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to the middle of their domestic championships, FIFA Secretary-General Jerome Valcke said.
A committee appointed by FIFA yesterday recommended holding the tournament, which is normally in June and July, at the end of 2022 to avoid the heat of Qatar’s summer, and cutting the number of match days. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the chairman of the European Club Association, said yesterday teams should be reimbursed for the disruption. “Why talk about compensation?” Valcke told a news conference in Doha. “It’s happening once, and we are doing nothing which destroyed football. We are just changing the format and structure of a season.”
Qatar is open to changing the dates to suit all parties, according to Hassan Al Thawadi, CEO of the local organizing committee. FIF“We are ready to host anytime depending on the wishes of the global football community,” Al Thawadi said in a statement. The first World Cup in the region will “build bridges between East and West,” Al Thawadi said.
The FIFA World Cup is usually a summer event hosted between the months of June and July
