‘Be Reasonable’ UEFA Says To Spanish League After Appeals In 2022 Qatar World Cup Dates

The Union of European Football Association told the Spanish League on Tuesday to stop fighting the decision of moving the dates of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The BBVA-sponsored league handed FIFA its first legal challenge in fear of losing an estimated $72 million if the league shuts down.

FIFA decided to move the dates of the 2022 Qatar World Cup from the traditional June-July to November-December in an attempt to avoid the scorching heat of the Middle East as per The Associated Press. However, a winter tournament could cause the Spanish league to lose around $72 million closing down top European leagues for about eight weeks halfway through the season and would require more summer meetings.

La Liga President Javier Tebas told Spain’s AS.com that the appeal was filed “in defense of the interests of the clubs, which are contributing to the international teams.” Despite the overall concern, La Liga is the only league so far that will take FIFA to court over the issue while Premiere League, Bundesliga, and Series A only supporting the appeal “morally.”

“Certainly they have not dared to sign the agreements. There is still much fear of FIFA,” Tebas added.

UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino was saddened about Tebas’ public protest citing that some people do not accept decisions taken by vast majority with most of the European leagues and European Club Association accepted playing the World Cup for the first time in winter season.

"We need to take a little bit of heat out of this whole discussion. We need to be a bit more realistic, and reasonable, and pragmatic on certain things. We don't need to take ourselves too seriously. The World Cup is the best national team competition in the world. It has to be played if at all possible in the best conditions. If this means that for one year in 150 years of history of football, we change the calendar ... it will not be the end of the world,” Infantino said via ESPN FC.

FIFA finalized its decision to change the dates of the World Cup on March rejecting the joint proposal of ECA and European leagues in playing the tournament in May-June slot. The tension lessened when FIFA agreed to pay clubs worldwide $209 million to release their players for the upcoming World Cup.

Recently, FIFA has been involved in a growing scandal about awarding Russia the 2018 and Qatar the 2022 World Cup clamped with a major threat of stripping the two countries the right to be hosts after Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber, who leads the investigation in the bidding process, said he would not have any doubt in forcing the tournament to be removed from the host countries.