Platini reiterates support for winter World Cup

MONACO: UEFA President Michel Platini on Friday reiterated his support for shifting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to winter in order to avoid the extreme heat that envelops the Gulf state in summer.
Platini also called on outspoken English opponents of the move to accept the proposal and a change to the Premier League calendar.
Although the 2022 World Cup is currently due to take place during Qatar’s summer, world governing body FIFA has also expressed a desire for the tournament to be moved to a different time of the year when temperatures are cooler.
However, Europe’s major leagues, including the Premier League, are against the idea of a World Cup taking place during the European winter due to the disruption to their calendars that it would create.
FIFA will examine the issue at the next meeting of its executive committee in October.
“I was very happy to learn that FIFA president Joseph Blatter wants to move the 2022 World Cup to the winter, something I’ve long advocated,” Platini said Friday.
“It’s impossible to play in 50-degree heat in Qatar in the summer.
“We have to play the World Cup at the best time,” Platini said.
“FIFA’s executive committee will take a decision, and should that be to play in winter, then UEFA would suggest what it considers the best period for the month concerned.” Platini added: “For 150 years, England has imposed its calendar and we’ve respected it.
“So for once, for one month, England could respect another calendar.” Earlier this month, the chief executive of England’s Premier League said switching the 2022 World Cup to the European winter would be “nigh-on impossible.”
“They (FIFA) decided the World Cup will be in the summer in Qatar,” Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said.
“Our view is, if that is deemed not possible by FIFA, they need to move the location. We can’t just, on a whim, decide to move to the winter.
“It’s extremely difficult, nigh-on impossible in our view.”

Transfer reform

UEFA president Michel Platini called for a sweeping reform of the transfer system on Friday, describing the current system to a form of robbery and saying the transfer window was too long.
Platini said there were too many people vying to take a slice of commission from players’ transfers and also said players were to blame for not respecting contracts.
His comments came amid the ongoing saga of Gareth Bale’s possible move from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid for 100 million euros ($132.25 million) and at the end of a European transfer window, which critics say has dragged on for too long.
“I think transfers are robbery,” the former France captain told a media conference.
“Today, the player is more a product than a player and that irks me because there is a whole lot of people trying to make this player make money in order to earn commissions, we should think about that and try to find something more healthy.
“Players are not free and they don’t even belong to clubs, they belong to financial holdings, companies or people.” “I don’t think it is right. I believe this is important and this is new in the world of football,” he added. “We are looking into that, working on it, I agree maybe this window is too big, too long.” Platini said that UEFA were looking at a possible reform of the transfer system and were aware of that FIFPro, the world player’s union, wanted sweeping reforms.
Platini pointed out that in his own playing days, players had gone on strike for the right to leave their clubs at the end of their contract.
But nowadays, he said players failed to respect their contracts, often refusing to play or train to try and force a move elsewhere.
“I belong to the generation who went on strike so players could leave at the end of the contract,” he added.
“Players went on strike to be free.... now I see they sign contracts, they don’t play because they want to leave again... there is something unhealthy about that.
“Robbery may be too tough a word, but when you sign a contract you should respect it and that’s what I wanted to say... We need a re-think of the whole transfer system.” He added that inflated transfer fees had always been a source of debate.
“We have been asking ourselves the same question for 30 years as to the morality of the money involved in transfers,” he said.
“People asked these questions when Diego Maradona was transferred for 30 million, or Zinedine Zidane for 60 million.”