FIFA's general secretary Jerome Valcke has claimed that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will not be held in the summer.
He has told Radio France the tournament will not take place in June and July, and believes it will be held sometime between mid-November and mid-January.
World football's governing body has been heavily criticized since the finals were awarded to Qatar due to the extreme summer heat in the Gulf.
While that would indicate that FIFA will opt for a winter tournament as Vaclke has suggested, it is not necessarily a foregone conclusion.
FIFA have stated that today's comments are Vaclke's views and that the organization have yet to make a decision on the timing of the 2022 tournament.
FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce reiterated that point on Sky Sports News today, stating that "Whether Jerome was making a personal opinion or not I just don't know but I can honestly confirm that this has not been discussed at the executive committee of FIFA."
He added that FIFA's Executive Committee would meet in December to discuss the potential timing of the World Cup with stakeholders.
Many of those stakeholders like the Premier League and other European leagues will have to radically adjust their calendars to allow for a winter World Cup.
But the Confederation of African Football will be thrown into some turmoil as The Blizzard editor and football writer Jonathan Wilson pointed out...
So CAF moves the CAN to odd-numbered years to avoid World Cup & now finds Fifa shifting WC to within a month of its start date. Well done.
— Jonathan Wilson (@jonawils) January 8, 2014
The African Nations Cup has been moved to odd numbered years and a tournament is likely to be scheduled for January 2023, just a month after Valcke's proposed date for the 2022 World Cup.
Qatar's winning bid was based on the idea that the World Cup would be held in the summer but moving the World Cup to another country has not been seriously mooted, although there has been a precedent in the past.
What seems likely, however, is that the World Cup will not go ahead in the summer. But what decision is made after that, remains up in the air.
