Qatar organizers dismissed any chance of the 2022 FIFA World Cup being taken away from the Gulf nation after a warning on Monday by a FIFA executive committee member.
Theo Zwanziger was quoted in his native Germany as saying that he believed the World Cup will not be played in Qatar because of the heat.
Discussions about shifting the tournament dates from the searing summer heat are continuing as FIFA’s ethics judge considers the findings of an investigation into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests.
But the Qataris are defiant in their belief that the result of the 2010 vote will stand.
“Qatar will host the FIFA World Cup in 2022, despite comments of FIFA executive committee member Dr. Zwanziger, which reflect his personal opinion and not that of FIFA,” Nasser Al Khater, Qatar’s executive director of communications, said in a statement. “The only question now is WHEN, not IF. Summer or winter, we will be ready. We have proven that a FIFA World Cup in Qatar in the summer is possible with state-of-the-art cooling technology.”
Zwanziger is leaving the FIFA executive committee in May, so is unlikely to have much influence on the process.
