The controversial Qatar World Cup that was going to be held in summer 2022 in special stadiums enhanced by “stadium cooling technology” is not gonna happen. It can’t. The great promise of cooling systems seems to have been a mirage–common enough in the desert–and it’s 120-degrees in the summer in Qatar. The world’s best players are often celestial, but that’s like playing on the sun–you can’t do it. Fans passing out from the heat during matches is another unwelcome yet likely event, according to FIFA, whose chief medical officer briefed the latest FIFA Executive Committee meeting in Zurich about the problems.
FIFA is “closer to narrowing the dates for the FIFA World Cup to two options – January/February 2022 or November/December 2022,” said Secretary General Jerome Valcke. That’s going to cost teams and leagues all over the world a whole bunch of money as it disrupts leagues and TV commitments everywhere. Whoever took the bribes that won Qatar its bid in the first place had better be passing some of that money around. It’s getting awfully expensive.
