International football governing body FIFA has insisted that it will not be liable for compensation if the 2022 World Cup is staged in winter rather than summer.
FIFA is considering rescheduling the World Cup because of concerns over high temperatures in host nation Qatar, where the heat can reach 50 degrees Celsius in the summer months.
According to CNN, FIFA will discuss the proposal to move the tournament to a cooler winter date at a meeting in Zurich next month, with Australian football chiefs arguing that FIFA should compensate those nations affected by a major rescheduling of international football's calendar if the competition is moved.
However, a FIFA spokesperson dismissed the demand, saying that the all bidders, including the Australian Football Association (FA), had accepted that the final decision regarding the format and dates of the staging of the FIFA World Cup and FIFA remains subject to the final decision of the FIFA Organising Committee
Stating that he had written to FIFA president Sepp Blatter to explain his board's demand for complaint and compensation, Australian FA chairman Frank Lowry said that Australia had invested heavily in the World Cup process and the entire nation was behind the bid, for which they made their position public.
According to Lowry, Australia has demanded compensation as it believes that its domestic football season will be affected following increasing speculation about a change that will impact on the country as one of the bidding nations.
