Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president, has announced the first step in a process which could lead to the Qatar 2022 World Cup moving to the winter, but stressed there is no threat to the Middle East country losing the tournament.
The executive committee has agreed to begin a consultation process and no decision on dates will be made until the end of next year, and maybe not until 2015.
A working group will look at all the impacts of moving the tournament from June/July due to the extreme heat in the Gulf at that time of year. Jerome Valcke, the FIFA general secretary, will head the group and it is expected the Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore will be asked to take part.
Blatter told a news conference in Zurich: "The FIFA World Cup 2022 will be played in Qatar. There you have it. Qatar will have 2022, but we don't know if it will be winter or summer."
The consultations will take place with clubs, leagues, national associations, confederations and players' groups, plus FIFA's sponsors and broadcast partners. It will also look into the issue of whether any compensation will be demanded and, if so, on what scale.
The Premier League, which had been pushing for FIFA not to make any firm decision before consulting widely, welcomed the outcome. A Premier League spokesman said: "We welcome the news that FIFA intends to conduct a thorough consultation."
Michel D'Hooghe, the FIFA member from Belgium, claimed it would be 2015 at the earliest before a final decision is made on dates. Blatter said, however, it is more likely to be the end of next year, adding: "It cannot be later than 2015, probably the end of 2014." He also announced he will visit Qatar and meet the country's new Emir to "confirm" the World Cup and will raise the issue of the mistreatment of migrant workers.
It follows an investigation which revealed that dozens of Nepalese workers have died in Qatar this year, and the findings have caused consternation and embarrassment to 2022 World Cup. Qatar's supreme committee has written to FIFA outlining its commitment to tackle the abuses.
Blatter also refused to be drawn on any possible outcome of FIFA ethics chief Michael Garcia's ongoing investigation into the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups - the American attorney has only just started speaking to bidding countries, including England, despite the review being announced in November last year.
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