Attention European leagues - it's the World Cup

Where is the sport in all this protesting, demanding, deliberating, threatening, complaining? Oh, yeah, THAT is the sport.

Wow... this is one of the worth pieces of biased writing I've read in a long time... Does the writer realise that the Qatar bid was for a June World Cup. The nations that voted for Qatar did so on basis of a June World Cup. If Qatar had bid for a November World Cup and won it, then this article would be making a valid point. Unfortunately, the bid was built on falsehoods and questionable dealings. When FIFA accept those conditions in a bid, they have no right to expect the various federations to kneel and grovel at their feel. Ridiculous article.

Attention European leagues - it's the World Cup hear hear

TR head of sport Mitch Phillips infringes the very essence of the 'Take no side, tell all sides' pledge detailed in TR Handbook of Journalism freedom from bias. Heavy on personal opinion and reeking of the fifa apologist. Phillips has made no mention of the 430 page Michael J Garcia report into the most controversial and corrupt bidding process in sporting history. Neither does Phillips question why Qatar bid was successful even though no less than Fifa's own evaluation of Qatar's bid to stage the event strenuously advised against it.

Finally Phillips fails to highlight the most important and distressing fact Qatars appalling record of human rights. How many migrant deaths does it take for Phillips to register had the bidding process followed fifa own rules thousands of lives could have been saved. Another Fifa flunkie.

I think the issue comes down to this: summer temperatures in Qatar during June and July can reach the mid to high 40's (Celsius) plus over 50% humidity--extremely frightening weather conditions conducive to heat stroke. That's why it's planned for November-December 2022.

Raymond, agree that the temperature at that time of year is terrible, but the bid was won based on hosting it at that time of year. Qatar promised measures to counter this. They won the bid based on a June World Cup. I personally have no problem with a November/December World Cup, but for the author of this article to use a broken promise by Qatar/FIFA on the staging of the World Cup to attack those federations that complain that they were lied to, that is just troll journalism and I have no idea why JT would publish such blatant rubbish.

donkusai: Has it ever been an option to bid for a November/December World Cup?

Open Minded, absolutely. Whether you could convince the voting FIFA members it's a good idea or not is another thing. That, though, isn't an excuse to bid for a June World Cup and have FIFA switch it to December because it would be impossible for you to host it in June.

I'm shocked that an article like this would be published by Thomsom Reuters. It reads like a blog by someone trying hard to be controversial. It's not a balanced or reasonable article in the slightest.

If FIFA felt the need to hold a World Cup in November/December, they should've said that upfront and perhaps held the bid process for 2022 on that basis. Switching it after the fact and then being so blase about it just makes them look even more shady and corrupt than they did before.

It's all 'just' a game though, so whatever, but I do think it's shameful.

While I am totally against FIFA's doubtful procedures that led Qatar winning the bidding race, it's a subject that can not influence both Russia and Qatar World Cups anymore. Does it make it right? No, but anyone who wants this wrongdoings getting by fixed by FIFA taking away both World Cups from Russia and Qatar, is daydreaming. It reminds me a lot of the hot opposition when USA was granted the - later proved - successful 1994 event. Or when Japan/Korea got the rights, with people complaining about both Asia hosting the event and the joint-organization. Looking back, USA and Japan/Korea cups were pivotal to soccer in their region. USA is going to become powerhouse in the next 15 years, no doubt thanks to that 1994 event.

I tend to agree with the author, Qatar hosting 2022 in November/December is not ideal. But it's manageable and I am sure that it will have a deep impact in the Arab world, for good.