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The EPFL (European Professional Football Leagues) isn’t very happy with FIFA’s decision to hold the 2022 World Cup in the winter since that’s right in the middle of their league schedules. FIFA recently announced the World Cup Final will be held on December 18, 2022 in Qatar and the tournament will begin in November. FIFA said the dates needed to be changed from the traditional summer event since the temperatures in the nation can often reach more than 40 degrees centigrade. However, officials in Qatar said they could easily build air-conditioned, roofed stadiums for the spectacle.

But since Sepp Blatter is still in charge of FIFA, the organization isn’t concerned with anybody other than itself. The EPFL has publicly said it’s against a winter tournament and said it will support any legal action taken against FIFA. The EPFL stated, “This is seriously damaging the European Leagues both from a sporting and financial standpoint. This decision raises serious questions about the motivations of many involved in the decision-making process and further demonstrate the lack of good governance within international football governing bodies.”

The organization went on to say that the leagues are the ones who will suffer from a winter World Cup and they had no say whatsoever in the matter. The EPFL added that they have to protect the interest of all European teams and the leagues will either have to carry on without their star players when the World Cup takes place or they will have to shut down during the event. They believe that it will become a very complicated matter if the leagues continue to play because the players are contractually obligated to play for their club teams. The EPFL then said the organization will support any individual league which decides to take FIFA to court.

As usual though, FIFA is trying to buy its way out of the mess it created. Blatter and his cronies recently announced that European club teams will receive $209 million if they release their players for both the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup. This represents a about 200 per cent increase from the last payments received, which were $70. The increase in payments is obviously aimed at keeping the European nations quiet with some spending money while FIFA goes about its business. Since there’s nothing more soccer clubs like more than money, it’s a good bet the European leagues won’t act on their threat of suing.