Winter sports up in arms over 2022 World Cup idea

The prospect of a winter World Cup in 2022 is causing mounting anger among the leaders of skiing, ice hockey and other cold weather sports who fear the crushing power of football fever. As FIFA weighs up whether to move the globe's top football tournament from its traditional June and July slot to avoid host nation Qatar's scorching heat, its winter sport counterparts are marshalling opposition. The International Ski Federation (FIS) has announced that it plans to form a united front with six other governing bodies to take a stand against the idea of their seasons being blitzed by football. The world of football is already split, with critics saying the climate issue could hardly have escaped FIFA's notice. England's Premier League and its Australian counterpart have protested, fearing disruption to their fixtures and coffers, while winter sports federations and broadcasters argue that a high-profile football event clashing with their own seasons would dent television audiences and revenues. The winter federations are not disguising their irritation about the way things are taking shape. "I honestly and privately just don't believe that anybody within FIFA cares about us," said FIS chief Gian Franco Kasper as skiing's own World Cup season got underway at the end of October. "They're the gods of the world -- at least they believe it -- they can do whatever they want. Now we are opposing it of course as much as we can" said Kasper, who is Swiss like FIFA boss Sepp Blatter. Ottavio Cinquanta, the Italian head of global skating's governing body FISU hammered home that message. "I don't think my colleague Kasper is wrong," Cinquanta told AFP. "You have to remember that Mr. Blatter is Swiss, the head of an international federation and a member of the International Olympic Committee, so he has to discuss this with his colleagues," he insisted. Cinquanta said it was time for some "loyal and respectful cooperation". Anders Besseberg, head of biathlon federation IBU, says the red lines are there for all to see. "They (FIFA) don’t really need to consult us because it is very clear: we don't want them to have the World Cup finished later than by December 1 or the end of november," the Norwegian told AFP. "You have a World Cup in soccer, normally it belongs to the summer sports and should not go into the winter season of the winter sports," he underlined. With FIFA's plans still up in the air -- it has delayed making a decision until after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil -- Besseberg said the time for serious discussion was nonetheless still to come. There is a similar sense of annoyance at the International Ice Hockey Federation. IIHF boss Rene Fasel said it was likely to join forces with its fellow winter federations. "We have to work as a family," Fasel, who is Swiss and a member of the IOC's executive committee, told AFP. "We can't forget that football is the world' number one sport. It's clearly a competitor. Our clubs could feel the consequences on the spectator front," he added. But he said that the winter federations should keep their powder dry until FIFA's stance is clearer. "Only then should be start getting angry," he said. The IOC also wants FIFA to coordinate with it in order to avoid any impact of a World Cup shift on the 2022 Winter Olympics, whose host city will be chosen in July 2015. Blatter is scheduled on Saturday to meet Qatar's new emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, for what FIFA has described as a "courtesy visit". In addition to the calendar issue, the two men are expected to discuss labour rights in the Gulf monarchy, amid human rights campaigners' claims that migrant workers on World Cup-linked projects there are being treated like slaves. Source: AFP