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'It’s amazing because it’s a question that’s coming quite often. Look, Qatar is the organiser for FIFA World Cup 2022. It is the case ever since Qatar was awarded by the FIFA executive committee in 2010,' FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke tells Rediff.com.
Rubbishing the claims that Qatar may not host the 2022 World Cup, FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke said the way the parent body sees it, Qatar is still the host for the sporting extravaganza.
Earlier, leading FIFA executive committee member Theo Zwanziger had hinted that Qatar may not host the 2022 World Cup finals because of extreme temperatures prevalent in the country.
While Qatar maintains that it has the technology to take care of the temperature aspect, thanks to the development of cooling technologies to be used at grounds, there is still speculation about it hosting of the tournament.
“It’s amazing because it’s a question that’s coming quite often. Look, Qatar is the organizer for FIFA World Cup 2022. It is the case ever since Qatar was awarded by the FIFA executive committee in 2010.
“However, there is an investigation running on and the chairman of the investigatory chamber, Michael Gracia, gave his 400-page plus report to the judge and the judge will take a look at the report and will give the statement,” Valcke told Rediff.com
Garcia submitted his long-awaited report to German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert last month and called for it to be made public.
“So, as it stands, Qatar will host the 2022 World Cup and there is no reason to think otherwise if you look at this legal side,” said Valcke.
He insisted that it’s FIFA’s duty to find the time to play the World Cup in Qatar.
“Another side to the competition is when will it be played; whether it will be played in summer or winter, because clubs don’t want to play in winter -- that’s wrong. We will find time to play World Cup in Qatar when it is the organiser,” said Valcke.
“Qatar bid for the World Cup on the basis that it will organize the competition in June-July 2022, giving FIFA all guarantee, despite the warm weather during summer in Qatar. So, as of today, Qatar is organizer of 2022 World Cup.”