Cooling down the Cup

FIFA's decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, where temperatures can reach up to 50 degrees Celsius during the summer, has stirred plenty of simmering tensions in football's global community - but is it about to boil over into costly demands for compensation? Yesterday, football's world governing body FIFA insisted it will not be liable for compensation if the 2022 World Cup is staged in winter rather than summer. They should be because a lot of countries have their major tournaments during the Northern Hemisphere winter, and their best players wouldn't be available for their club commitments during that time. If the 2022 World Cup is moved, then FIFA should offer compensation to those nations affected by a major rescheduling of global football's 2021-22 or 2022-23 (as the case may be) calendar.