The Full Ninety Minutes: Qatar: Host of the 2022 World Cup

No one really understands exactly why Qatar was chosen to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. I mean yes they have a lot of money and are going to invest in state of the art technology for the World Cup but it's a country with a population of about 1,700,000. Compare this with USA's 309,000,000 or Australia's 22,600,000 it's not a very big country. The biggest problem with having the World Cup in Qatar is by far the weather. Qatar reaches 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit) in July! With extremely high humidity! That is basically a death sentence for the players! Still don't understand the seriousness? Tourist don't travel to Qatar in the summer months and inhabitants leave the country. That is just how serious this is. Yes, Qatar has promised to make stadiums with air-conditioning in them, but not all stadiums will have that. Also, how will the fans feel about not being able to go outside because they're scared they'll get heat-stroke? And what about the players? They're training will have to be in an indoor facility and they won't be able to go anywhere. Yes it's great that this World Cup will be so modern and advanced, but the location and the setting (mostly the climate) will make it un-enjoyable for the fans that probably paid a lot of money to visit. There's only one solution: have the World Cup in the winter.

International Players Union FIFPro feel the same way. They insist that it would be 'stupid' to stage the World Cup in the summer. An this issue is serious, it's not just saying they're going to and never following through, the much hated Sepp Blatter has already expressed his opinion on the matter and has made moves to have it hosted during the winter time. As I mentioned before, the air-conditioned stadiums will help, but it is in no way ecological and will be frowned upon by a large part of the world.

Yes, winter seems as the better solution, but really would you want to have the World Cup in winter? The World Cup has taken place every four years since 1930 (with the exclusion of 1942 and 1946 because of the Second World War) and not once has it been held in the winter time. Some football fans such as myself will not agree with moving the World Cup to the winter because it doesn't seem right. The World Cup is a tradition that should not be changed or altered. Why should we change the World Cup just so that one country can host it? Personally, I'm not OK with that. I've grown up watching the World Cup and can't even imagine it being in the winter! I remember I'd beg my parents to let me stay home just to watch games! And I did! I've missed so much school in my life due to the World Cup and Euro Cup. I live in Canada and I'd hate going to Toronto to celebrate my country winning the World Cup and everything being covered by snow and the traffic being horrible and be shivering outside the bars and pubs. You can't even wear football jersey's in the winter here because it's so freezing cold!

Having the World Cup in the winter feels so unnatural to me, but I'd like to know your opinions. What do you think about Qatar hosting the World Cup and how do you feel that there's a chance it could take place in winter?