Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger: Winter World Cup for 2022 Qatar tournament 'makes sense'

Holding the 2022 World Cup in the northern hemisphere during autumn and winter makes sense, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said on 24 February.

A Fifa task force examining dates for the Qatar World Cup has recommended the Gulf state hosts a shorter tournament, staged over the cooler months of November and December 2022.

Asian Football Confederation head Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa told reporters in Doha that those dates would be put to Fifa's executive committee to be ratified in March.

It is a move sure to set world football's governing body on a collision course with the major European leagues, which would prefer an April to May option to minimise disruption to their lucrative domestic programmes.

Speaking at the club training ground near London on the eve of Arsenal's Champions League match against Monaco, Wenger told a news conference: "It's impossible to play in the summer.

"I think it makes sense, if you want people to survive at the games, it's the only way to do it in a decent way, a comfortable way for the supporters. I think the players don't worry but for the supporters it's the only way, it's the right decision.

"Of course, everybody will have to reorganise their fixtures and their season, that will not be easy. I'm not a specialist of fixture organisations but I'm conscious that will be in the middle of the season for the Premier League."

World Cups have always been staged in May, June and July since the first in Uruguay in 1930.

June and July are not viable for Qatar, where temperatures routinely exceed 40C, and the working group's proposals would see the 2022 World Cup final contested a couple of days before Christmas.

There are no moves to reduce the size of the tournament from 32 teams or 64 matches but the plan is for the competition to be shortened by a matter of days.