Winter World Cup 'unworkable and undesirable'

"The 2022 World Cup was bid for and awarded to Qatar as a summer tournament," a spokesman said.

"The prospect of a winter World Cup is neither workable or desirable for European domestic football."

"For the football family, the rescheduling of the FIFA World Cup 2022 presents a difficult and challenging task," chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said in a statement.

"All match calendars across the world will have to accommodate such a tournament in 2022/23, which requires everyone's willingness to compromise.

"European clubs and leagues cannot be expected to bear the costs for such rescheduling. We expect the clubs to be compensated for the damage that a final decision would cause."

"Staging the World Cup in November/December is an organisational as well as a financial burden for European leagues," DLF managing director Andreas Rettig said.

"One also has to take into account the strain on top players. A shortened match plan cannot mean that there will be the same number of games to be played in a shorter period of time."

"Changes to the match schedule that could potentially place extra strain on the workload of the players is for FIFPro to analyse together with all stakeholders in due course," the organisation said in a statement.

"It is hard to get used to the idea that a World Cup final is to be held shortly before Christmas," said President Wolfgang Niersbach, who leads the world's largest single sports federation.

"But what is certain is that because of the enormous heat in the summer there can be no play and so there is no other alternative than to stage it in the winter. Now it is up to those planning the dates to find the best possible solutions which no doubt is not easy but is also not impossible."

"It's impossible to play in the summer and I think it makes sense, if you want people to survive there, its the only way to have it in a comfortable way for the supporters.

"Thinking about the players -- I am not worried -- but you have to think about the supporters."

"Once Qatar was chosen for the World Cup in 2022 everyone know they would have to adapt to that decision and that it would be impossible to play in the summer.

"Everyone will have to re-organise their fixtures and their season, that will not be easy."

"Disrupted for a World Cup? You're making the World Cup sound like the Sherpa Vans Trophy. The World Cup's the World Cup, it's hardly a tin-pot competition.

"The Premier League will be disrupted for a year, every 24 or 28 years, for a continent to have a World Cup. We've got to get over it. Football's a world game.

"It's been shoddy how they've got to the decision, the fact it's taken so long and been a shambles of a process. But I've been to the Middle East a number of times and they deserve a World Cup.

"It seems to have been a bit underhand and they've only decided after it's been awarded but they've got to the right place, to make allowances for a continent to host a World Cup and for them to play in normal heat."

"Given the climate in Qatar, playing in the summer at temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius would be a huge problem as it would pose a serious health risk and result in a deteriorated quality of football," vice-president Savo Milosevic said.

"So switching it to November and December is a good decision in my opinion and one that would also play into Serbia's hands if we qualify because it would practically coincide with our winter break."

"I imagine the big European football nations are not so pleased because it would disrupt their national leagues but the 2022 World Cup is seven years away and I think they have enough time to readjust."