World Cup

FA chairman Greg Dyke concedes winter World Cup now best option

By Pascal Lemesre, Football League Editor | 24 February 2015

Football Association chairman Greg Dyke describes hosting the 2022 Qatar World Cup in November and December as "the best of the bad options".

Football Association chairman Greg Dyke has conceded that hosting the 2022 Qatar World Cup in winter is "the best of the bad options".

A FIFA task force today officially recommended that the tournament be held between November and December 2022 because of the searing summer conditions in Qatar.

Doing so will disrupt the domestic leagues in Europe, but Dyke now admits that it is the best option given the health risks of playing in the summer.

"The best option would be to not hold it in Qatar, but we are now beyond that so November/December would seem to be the best of the bad options," he told PA.

"It will clearly disrupt the whole football calendar as it means club football stopping at the end of October.

"You might be able to keep the disruption to one season if you start earlier and end later but it's going to be tough - and unnecessary because we would not be doing this if FIFA had done their work properly."

It has been suggested that the final could be played two days before Christmas on December 23, 2022.