FIFA officials, contacted by Reuters, said Zwanziger was not giving the view of the all powerful Executive Committee. He is expressing a personal opinion and he explicitly says so, FIFA spokeswoman Delia Fischer said. We will not comment on a personal opinion. Qatar organizers said they have already proved that cooling technologies that would be used at the World Cup work. We have proven that a FIFA World Cup in Qatar in the summer is possible with state-of-the-art cooling technology, said Al Khater. We have demonstrated that our cooling works in outdoor areas beyond stadiums. This summer we welcomed fans in Doha to an open-air Brazil 2014 Fan Zone with temperatures cooled to a comfortable 22 degrees Celsius. The evolution of environmentally-friendly cooling technologies is an important legacy for our nation, region and for countries with similar climates - promising to expand the reach of hosting major sporting events to countries where it was never thought possible before. Despite the resources being thrown at high-tech cooling techniques, skepticism about Qatars ability to stage a World Cup in the summer -- when temperatures can soar into the mid 40s Celsius -- has not gone away. FIFA President Sepp Blatter said in May that awarding the World Cup to Qatar was a mistake and the tournament would probably have to be held in the European winter. The Qatar technical report indicated clearly that it is too hot in summer, but the executive committee with quite a big majority decided all the same that the tournament would be in Qatar, he said. FIFA is looking at the option of shifting the tournament to January/February 2022 or November/December 2022 - both of which would be unpopular because of disruption to the domestic seasons in Europe and around the world. Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa chaired a meeting to discuss the matter earlier this month. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann. Editing by Patrick Johnston/Alan Baldwin)
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 20:35:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015