Platini: Qatar could co-host World Cup

UEFA president Michel Platini believes Qatar could share the 2022 World Cup with the rest of the Arabian Gulf.

FIFA awarded the 2022 tournament to Qatar in December, a controversial decision given the Middle Eastern nation’s small size and extreme heat during the middle of the year.

There have been calls to play the tournament in January to avoid the high temperatures in June and July, while Platini believes sharing the World Cup with neighbouring countries could ease the burden on Qatar’s infrastructure.

“It could be the World Cup of Qatar but played in the Gulf,” said Platini.

“I think we need political people [for this to happen], but I think so.”

Neither change was mentioned during the bid process, much to the annoyance of some of the other unsuccessful bidding nations.

But Platini said it was not imperative for Qatar to stick exactly to their initial proposal.

“Who will remember the words in 12 years? In 12 years everybody will be happy to have a very well-organised World Cup and not remember what’s happened before,” Platini said.

“When I organised the World Cup in France we did [things] differently from what we proposed in the bid.”

While he stopped short of backing the move to play the 2022 tournament in January, Platini said the idea needed to be considered.

“It is necessary to think what could be the future. I don’t say to play in winter or not to play in winter but to think about what could be the calendar in the future,” Platini said.