Abu Dhabi: One of Fifa's officials said it will be up to Qatar if it wanted to share the 2022 Fifa World Cup with any of its neighbours or other countries in the region.
In response to a question during yesterday's media conference on the sidelines of the Fifa Club World Cup, Fifa Secretary General Jerome Valcke said: "The issues of Qatar sharing the 2022 event with other nations in the region and also that of shifting the 2022 event to the winter (from June to January) will have to be raised at Fifa's Executive Committee meetings".
Valcke however clarified that the request must come from Qatar before it can be considered by the Executive Committee. "It's up to Qatar to first say that they have that wish — it has to come from them. If any request does come, it will go before the Executive Committee. But at the moment there is no such request," Valcke said.
Mohammad Khalfan Al Rumaithi, UAE FA President and Chairman of the Club World Cup Local Organising Committee said the UAE was keen to see the Club World Cup return to the UAE in 2013 after Japan stages it in 2011 and 2012. "We would like to have this tournament back in 2013," he said after a meeting of the LOC and Fifa gave Abu Dhabi full marks. "We are also hoping to host a Fifa youth event as we have submitted bids for the Fifa U-17 World Cup in 2013, the Fifa U-17 Women's World Cup in 2014 and the Fifa U-20 World Cup in 2015. Lots of countries will be involved in the bidding process, but we hope that Fifa will look favourably on our bids," Rumaithi said.
Fifa's Chuck Blazer, the Chairman of the Local Organising Committee, complementing the UAE said: "I believe in giving good grades for good work, and the UAE already has one of the letters in its name: an ‘A'. The tournament has been very smooth and we have also seen improvements from last year".
