EUROPEAN clubs want to be compensated if FIFA follows the recommendation of its Task Force and stages the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in November and December, they said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the world players’ union FIFPro said any discussion over shortening the World Cup should involve its members and that it remained equally concerned about the human rights situation in the Gulf state.
A FIFA Task Force examining dates for the event recommended a shorter tournament, staged over the cooler months of November and December 2022, after the last of its three meetings in Doha on Tuesday.
The recommendation will be sent to FIFA’s executive committee for a final decision in Zurich on March 20, ending a four-year long saga over when the tournament should be played.
“For the football family, the rescheduling of the FIFA World Cup 2022 presents a difficult and challenging task,” Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chairman of the European Clubs’ Association (ECA), said in a statement.
“All match calendars across the world will have to accommodate such a tournament in 2022/23, which requires everyone’s willingness to compromise.
“European clubs and leagues cannot be expected to bear the costs for such rescheduling. We expect the clubs to be compensated for the damage that a final decision would cause.”
The Association of European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) also disagreed with November-December, saying the proposal would “perturb and cause great damage to the normal running of the European domestic competitions.”
The EPFL reiterated that May would be a less disruptive way of avoided the searing heat of June-July, a period which has been dismissed despite Qatari assurances that they can build naturally cooled stadiums.
English Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said there was little discussion during Tuesday’s meeting.