The first winter World Cup will begin on Nov. 21 and conclude on Dec. 18 – Qatar’s National Day, FIFA has announced.
That means the tournament will be 28 days, making it one of the shortest World Cups in the past two decades, according to Reuters.
The world’s governing football body set the dates today during a meeting in Zurich, six months after deciding the tournament’s finals date.
It's confirmed – the 2022 @FIFAWorldCup Qatar will take place from 21 November until 18 December. World Cup Final on Qatar's National Day.
— The SC (@roadto2022) September 25, 2015
According to ESPN, the World Cup will be shorter than usual to accommodate teams with scheduling conflicts since the tournament was moved from the summer to the winter months.
The sports channel said:
“A 28-day World Cup is four fewer than usual and is designed to cause less disruption to clubs and leagues that must shut down for several peak midseason weeks.”
Reuters added that the last World Cup, which was held this year in Brazil, was 32 days, while the shortest 32-team tournament was 31 days.
Blatter under fire
Also today, Swiss investigators announced that they were launching criminal proceedings against longtime FIFA President Sepp Blatter for possible “criminal mismanagement and misappropriation.”
Blatter was interrogated by Swiss prosecutors after today’s executive meeting, his office has been searched and data seized, officials said.
“The case involves a contract Blatter is said to have signed that assigned valuable World Cup television rights to the control of an indicted former FIFA official, Jack Warner, according to a news release from the office of the Swiss attorney general. The new charges accuse Blatter of violating his fiduciary duty to FIFA in his role as president by signing the contract in 2005, which is called “unfavorable to FIFA.”
Blatter announced he was resigning as president of FIFA shortly after being elected for a fifth term this summer. New elections for the presidency will take place on Feb. 26, 2016.
