FIFA considering November and January dates for 2022 World Cup

FIFA has not decided when they will play the 2022 World Cup, and they will not do so until at least February of next year.Right now, they are considering two dates: November and December, and January and February.

Nearly everyone in FIFA has agreed that the tournament cannot be played in the summer. The heat in Qatar would be unsafe for players, as well as spectators, so the tournament will have to be moved to the winter. The question is when they will move it too, and there has yet to be much movement on the subject.

FIFA has faced a ton of criticism over the 2022 World Cup, first from their decision to award it to Qatar, and then from the need to move the date. Originally, Qatar promised climate controlled stadiums, which they either cannot do or FIFA does not believe they can do adequately anymore, depending on who you believe. FIFA also appears to have just considered the spectators, who would be asked to spend a month in a country where temperatures are regularly over 100 degrees fahrenheit.

Originally, FIFA were going to announce a new tournament date last year, but Sepp Blatter said that they would have a task force investigate the issue first. Among issues to consider are the Winter Olympics, which will be held in February, as well as Qatar's plans and TV partners. The task force is going to meet again in November, and for a final time in February.

Among those most outraged at the need to move the 2022 World Cup are the European leagues and FOX. The clubs don't want their seasons interrupted and FOX paid a hefty sum of money for the U.S. broadcast rights, thinking they would be broadcasting the tournament in June and July, not against football in the winter.

Of course, there is also the fact that the U.S. had also bid to host the 2022 World Cup. Had they won, the tournament would not have been played in the winter, and the pain of missing out on the opportunity to host undoubtedly fuels the anger towards the tournament and proposed date change, at least in this country. Australia, Japan and South Korea, the other bidders, are unlikely to be sympathetic to a move, nor will many European countries like England, who are unhappy about how the 2018 bidding played out.