Spanish League president criticises 2022 WC dates

Madrid, March 21: Spanish Football League president Javier Tebas has strongly criticised the decision announced by FIFA this week to play the fil of the 2022 World Cup on December 18.

The decision taken by FIFA, to play the 2022 World Cup in winter, is a result of the impossible high summer temperatures in Qatar, reports Xinhua.

But it will cause havoc in the schedules of all the main leagues in Europe. Most of the leagues usually have heavy fixture schedules during the time the World Cup is scheduled for. Hence, they look set for fixture congestion and lost revenue as a result of the decision.

Tebas will meet with representatives of the English Premier League and the German Bundesliga, all of whom have already issued a communique criticising FIFA, in Barcelo on Saturday to discuss further moves. But the opinion of the LFP president is very clear.

“The dates (for the 2022 World Cup) are barbarous,” said Tebas, insisting that FIFA had “not made a correct reflection over what could happen”.

“It is a wrong decision, especially for the European Leagues which provide 75 percent of the players in the World Cup.

“It will be an enormous problem for our competitions, because there will be no matches played from the end of November until the middle of January,” he pointed out. IANS