IOC President Thomas Bach has insisted there "must be no clash between the Winter Games and the Qatar 2022 World Cup," according to Dan Roan of the BBC. January and February is being "considered as a
date for football's showpiece tournament because of Qatar's extreme
summer heat." Bach said that he received a pledge from FIFA President Sepp Blatter that "there will not be a clash." Bach: "I have no reason not to believe (him). He made it very clear that a clash of these two great events is in nobody's interest." Talks at FIFA headquarters in Zurich last month "resulted in support for a tournament held in either January and February or November and December." However, Bach said that there would be "no winners" if the 2022 Winter Olympics and World Cup coincided. Bach said, "A clash would be bad for the international
audience who would have two major sports programs broadcast worldwide,
so the public's attention would be divided. Also for the sponsors, there are some that
are common to FIFA and the IOC. To manage these two kind of programs
at the same time would be very difficult, so in the end there would be
no winners" (BBC, 12/1). CNN's Euan McKirdy reported while European leagues are "unhappy with the idea of a winter Cup, which would interfere with their domestic tournaments," European Clubs Association Chair Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said that it would be "acceptable" to change the schedule for just "one season" (CNN, 12/2).
