FIFA on Thursday took the "unprecedented step" of shifting the '22 Qatar World Cup "to the end of the year, with the final to be played on Dec. 18," according to Joshua Robinson of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The World Cup also will be a "shorter-than-usual 28 days, putting the expected start on Nov. 21." FIFA "confirmed the decision" Thursday evening during a meeting of its Exec Committee. The question had "hung over the organization" since '10. FIFA Dir of Communications & Public Affairs Walter de Gregorio said, "At least we know that the final will not be the 23rd (of December), so time to make Christmas shopping and time to go home.” Robinson notes though Qatar "initially won the hosting rights with promises of stadium-cooling technology to make conditions in the Middle East playable in the summer, the shift in season has been expected for a year." The "biggest opposition early on came from the major European leagues," including the EPL, which "traditionally packs in more games throughout December." Under the new dates, some of those "would still be possible, though the overall effect on the schedule is unclear." Equally "opaque is the impact on the international match calendar." The consequences "could ripple out over three years, with questions over when (and possibly where) to hold the Confederations Cup in 2021 -- that tournament normally serves as a dress-rehearsal for the World Cup hosts." In the U.S., the new schedule "creates a major headache for the television rights holders," Fox and Telemundo, who paid around $1B to air the '18 and '22 editions. A summer tournament "would have only overlapped" with the MLB season, but the November-December version "puts soccer directly opposite" with the NFL." As it stands, the final "will be on a Sunday and there will be group-stage soccer on Thanksgiving" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 3/20).
LOOKING OUT FOR ITSELF: YAHOO SPORTS' Leander Schaerlaeckens wrote the move "suits FIFA, even though it presents logistical disasters for just about everybody else." FIFA is "far more concerned with its own interests than that of the game." The organization is "essentially taking a sledgehammer to a finely tuned soccer calendar, which is the supporting structure of a billion-dollar industry." The World Cup has "always been in summer because that's the offseason for almost every domestic soccer league." FIFA "wouldn't revisit its choice of hosts -- that would have required too much introspection and admission of guilt, after all -- so, instead, it set about strong-arming the rest of the soccer world into adapting to a winter World Cup." FIFA would "rather turn the game it governs on its head than admit it had made a grievous error and hand the World Cup to someone else -- and likely face a lawsuit from Qatar" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 3/19). In Chicago, Brian Sandalow writes FIFA "doesn’t have much concern for its players or fans, but just its corporate sponsors." The organization "drags its feet on any kind of movement within the game, and it usually gets its biggest decisions wrong." Thursday's decision was "just the latest example" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/20).
VIVE LA FRANCE! In N.Y., Andrew Das notes FIFA on Thursday awarded the '19 Women’s World Cup to France, "rewarding a rising power in women’s soccer with the chance to win the title on home soil." The announcement "confirmed France as a key player in world soccer over the next four years." France also will host the men’s European Championship in '16 and the under-20 women’s World Cup in '18 as a "warm-up to the senior event the next year" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/20).
