That the upcoming 2022 Qatar World Cup is a controversial event goes without

saying: the method by which it won the bid and its treatment of migrant workers
crucial to the delivery of the World Cup in particular have clouded the upcoming
competition. However, football fans would do well to consider that the sheer
popularity of the event will trump all ethical concerns in determining the success
of the tournament: in the recent World Travel Market 2014 Industry Report,
roughly two-thirds of the travel industry believes that tourists will flock to the
competition in eight years time.
The biggest challenge to the success of the World Cup right now remains the
timing of the competition. During the bidding process, Qatar promised that its
research into revolutionary stadium-cooling techniques would prove fruitful come
2022, and the tournament could go ahead during the traditional summer
months, despite an average daily high June temperature of forty-one degrees
Celsius. Even though FIFA themselves published a technical report that warned
that the summer period would be too warm to host an international event such
as this, with the high temperature adversely affecting visiting tourists and
players. The high temperature has also partly been responsible in creating the
conditions that have resulted in the death of many migrant workers.
FIFA have announced that they are considering two options for the timing of the
World Cup, January/February 2022 or November/December 2022, after Sepp
Blatter, President of FIFA, was forced into creating a taskforce to evaluate
different possibilities after outcries from various sections of the footballing world,
including UEFA, top European clubs, and leading national leagues. Moreover, one
of the biggest concerns is that the revised World Cup will clash directly with the
Winter Olympics, to be held either Almaty in Kazakhstan or Beijing in China. The
dates for this tournament have not been finalised, however with the Sochi
Olympics running from seventh February to twenty-third February there is a
strong chance that there will be a clash between the two tournaments, despite
Sepp Blatter promising his counterpart at the International Olympic Committee
Thomas Bach that no such thing would happen. The other option being
considered would also clash with sports tournaments such as the Champions
League, and all European football leagues.
The two options revealed do not include the proposed compromise proffered by
European clubs and leagues: April/ May 2022. This would offer minimal disruption
to the current footballing calendar, with leagues starting two weeks earlier than
usual, more midweek games, and fewer international breaks. FIFA argued that
this would be running the risk of creating health and safety issues related to the
heat, but the average temperature during this time period, thirty-two degrees
Celsius, is not too far off the temperatures witnessed in Brazil earlier this year, as
well as Mexico in 1986 and the USA in 1994. The most worrying factor against
this proposal would be that it would clash with the start of Ramadan on the third
of April, ending on the second of May. As Sharia law is the main legal source of
legislation in Qatar, eating and drinking in public is illegal during this month,
making the prospect of hundreds of thousands of rowdy football fans gathering in
the country for the month unappealing to say the least.

The taskforce convening on this issue will only make its recommendation by
March 2015. What is clear by now is that the best possible option not holding
the World Cup in Qatar at all is off the table, barring conclusive, irrefutable
proof that the bid was bought and paid for by the Qatari bid team.