There has been a lot of debate over the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. And playing soccer games in oppressive midday heat has been at the top of that list.
Moving the tournament to November and December is one solution. Another idea, recently floated by Harold Mayne-Nicholls in a BBC Sports report, who is considering a challenge to Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency, is playing games at night, which would mean a 1 am start-time for the final game on three-game days.
"You could play the first games at 7 pm, the second games at 10 pm and the third matches at 1 am," he told BBC Sport.
Mayne-Nicholls said moving the tournament to winter months would be “chaotic” to leagues around the world.
"You'd change everything,” he said of the late start times. “It would be a couple of hours behind in Europe, and that would help TV.”
Of course, when to play the games isn’t the biggest issue surrounding Qatar’s controversial selection to host the tournament, with accusations of corruption and human rights abuses clouding the host country. UEFA president Michel Platini told beIN Sports that he believes Qatar could be stripped of the tournament and that if corruption claims are substantiated there will have to be a revote.
But unlike Mayne-Nicholls, Platini also said should Qatar keep the World Cup, it would have to be held in the winter.
