Blatter pleads for 2022 Qatar World Cup to be moved to winter as ‘you can’t cool down country’

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FIFA President Sepp Blatter listens to questions during the Confederations Cup wrap-up press conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 1, 2013. FIFA President Sepp Blatter plans to ask the governing body\'s executive committee to consider moving the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to the winter in order to avoid the searing summer heat. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP - Felipe Dana

GOING, Austria – FIFA President Sepp Blatter has reiterated his appeal to move the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to the winter in order to avoid the searing summer heat.

Blatter says “if this World Cup is to become a party for the people, you can’t play football in the summer. You can cool down the stadiums but you can’t cool down the whole country.”

Despite health concerns included in an official report before the vote, the FIFA executive committee opted for the tiny emirate’s bid in 2010. Blatter has repeatedly refused to say if he backed Qatar.

Speaking during a two-day conference on sports, media and economy set up by German great Franz Beckenbauer in Austria, Blatter says “there is still enough time. I will bring this up to the executive committee.”

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