Since stunning the world in Zurich on December 2, 2010, Qatar has become a global sporting powerhouse, relentlessly pursuing international recognition through huge sporting, and business, ventures.

Be it its takeover of French football giants Paris Saint-Germain in 2011 through Qatar Sports Investment, Qatar's Sovereign Wealth Fund established in 2005 to manage the oil and natural gas surpluses by the Government of Qatar, a group which also holds a five-year sponsorship deal with Spanish giants Barcelona; through to its unquenchable thirst to host major international sports events, which has reached a peak of 43 over the next 12 months, Qatar is a nation on the up.

As the richest country in the world per capita it, quite frankly, can afford to be.

Although in Doha to cover the third edition of the Doha GOALS Forum, established during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games as a platform for world leaders to create initiatives for global progress through sport, a lot of my time was spent contemplating the FIFA World Cup.

As both a football fan and a sports journalist, the 2022 World Cup has become somewhat of an obsession. Never has FIFA's flagship tournament thrown up such a wave of debate, debacle and disruption as that of the 2022 edition in Qatar.

FIFA has faced a storm of criticism since awarding the World Cup to Qatar in 2022; from workers' rights to searing heats to corruption allegations ©Getty Images



Now, I'm not planning on talking about the masses and masses (and masses) of criticism that has engulfed the tournament in relation to corruption and migrant worker issues, although the latter appears to be widely forgotten as recent developments of the proposed timing of the event and how that will effect the powerful European leagues have dominated the media.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you'd have heard the constant discussions of these former topics and, although obviously hugely important and quite disturbing at times, I'm quite sure that the 2022 World Cup will be played in Qatar regardless. Regardless of whether they have caused huge disruptions to the sporting calendar as a whole that is...

With this in mind, the timing of the tournament has become the latest spanner in the works for FIFA, as dates are thrown around any which way by some of football's biggest sporting leaders.

Traditionally played in the months of June and July, although seeping into the latter dates of May on five occasions in its 84 year history, the World Cup is, and always has been, a summer tournament.

Qatar's searing summer heats, reaching upwards of 50 degrees Celsius, have more or less put these dates out of question. For daytime play at the least.

After questions were originally raised on alternative dates, and fingers began to point at FIFA's apparent dismissal of a technical report that rated a summer tournament in Qatar as "high risk", FIFA President Sepp Blatter succumbed to wide calls for a shift from these traditional summer dates. Winter dates were therefore suggested and a tournament in November/December, or January/February thought most likely.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter will not want the World Cup to clash with the 2022 Winter Games following promises made to IOC President Thomas Bach ©Beijing 2022



As a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Blatter favoured a move to November/December in order to avoid a clash with the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, set to be held in either Beijing or Almaty.

Blatter also made a promise to IOC President Thomas Bach that the World Cup and Winter Olympics would not clash - a promise Bach is confident will be kept, he told exclusively my insidethegames colleague Duncan Mackay earlier this week. 

Sir Craig Reedie, President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and a vice-president of the IOC, echoed this sentiment in Doha where he claimed that the 2022 Winter Games will probably have to be held on the last 16 days of February due to the two candidate cities they have on offer. A January/February World Cup would also clash with the Super Bowl, the annual Championship game of the National Football League (NFL).

Not only would this conflict cause huge losses to viewing figures, with the event, held on Super Bowl Sunday, traditionally the first Sunday in February frequently the most watched American television broadcast of the year and the third most watched sporting events in the world, it would also cause enormous issues commercially as major broadcasters such as Fox, who have paid $425 million for the rights to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, kick up a fuss.

A move to January and February would cause major problems in America as the dates would clash with the nation's biggest sporting spectacle - the Super Bowl ©Getty Images



The dates of November and December would, however, cause significant disruption in North and South America, where football leagues are beginning to wrap up around these dates.

UEFA, the governing body for European football, has also called out against an end of year tournament due to disruptions it would cause to the group stages of the Champions League.

The majority of European football leagues, bar the English Premier League, have long winter breaks around January and February, meaning a Winter World Cup here would cause the least amount of disruption to their calendars.

A third option has also been put forward by top European clubs who feel a tournament in May would cause the least disruption to any of their calendars.

The European Club Association (ECA), which represents more than 200 of the continent's biggest teams, suggested playing the 2022 tournament between 28 April and 29 May.

The Association of European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL), which counts the Premier League, Spain's La Liga and the German Bundesliga among its members, on the other hand, suggests the World Cup starting in late May and ending in June.

The ECA's suggestion would cause major issue with the Muslim Holy month of Ramadam, which will fall on April and early May that year, with eating and drinking in public strictly forbidden in Qatar during that time.

The EPFL option brings back concerns over heat and the risk to players, officials and fans, despite assurances by Qatar that it can provide climate-controlled venues.

Europe's top clubs and leagues want the 2022 World Cup to stay in the summer in order to avoid major disruptions to their domestic seasons ©EPFL



Qatar itself was also keen to stick to the traditional months of June/July, however, following continued warnings over temperature concerns, organisers have recently changed tact, stating they are happy to host the tournament at anytime.

Both the ECA and EPFL are now thought to be working together to think up a new plan to have the tournament played in May.

One suggestion, put forward by Harold Mayne-Nicholls, the administrator who led the FIFA Inspection Group that evaluated the bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, was to host the event in May but have games kick off in the late evening and early hours of the morning, after claims that a Winter World Cup would be impossible due to the many clashes it has with other major sporting events.

Another curve-ball was thrown on Wednesday by UEFA President Michel Platini when the Frenchman told media at St George's Park that the World Cup will "never be in April, May or June - It will be in winter" - a contradiction of the views expressed by many of Europe's top clubs.

He said he was free to the idea of moving the Champions League in order to accommodate a change of date for the World Cup.

A FIFA task force, set up in October 2013 to find alternative dates for the World Cup, have met twice in Zurich to discuss the best options available for the move.

In its last meeting on Monday it is believed that a date in January/February was heavily favoured over one in November/December. This task force is expected to deliver a final recommendation to FIFA's ruling Executive Committed by March 2015. A decision one would think would be followed by football's governing body.

A task force headed by Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa (left), President of the Asian Football Confederation, is believed to be favouring a move to January and February for the 2022 FIFA World Cup ©Getty Images



It could cause major problems for Blatter and his friends at the IOC if the dates of January and February were recommended, however.

Blatter has major influence within both bodies but one could not see him going against recommendations given to him by a task force he himself set up.

That would leave him breaking a promise made to IOC President Bach last year, not something anyone would want to do likely.

This begs the questions; was it smart for 68-year-old to make such promises to Bach? Is there anything he can do about it?

A quick answer to both would be no.

This is truly a lose-lose situation for Blatter, and more importantly, football's image to the world.

They have nominated a country that, despite earlier assurances, cannot host a World Cup in the summer; they have fought tooth and nail with one another on when to host the event; and they brought the integrity and reputability of football to an all time low through this squabbling, secrecy and indecision.

Now this isn't me saying that Qatar shouldn't host a World Cup. The country has the money, it has the facilities and it has the drive to ensure the Word Cup is as successful as possible.

This is me saying that Qatar should be awarded a World Cup at a sensible time. It was clear from the onset that a Summer World Cup would be nigh-on-impossible. FIFA should, therefore, have voted for whether they felt Qatar should host a World Cup outside of the traditional months of June and July. In 2010 there was 12 years before the World Cup would be held.

That was more than enough time to warn all parties involved, directly or not, that this tournament would be held in months outside of the norm. 

Then FIFA had to decide conclusively on what dates the tournament would be held, and vote with this already on the table. With members, the media and the public in the know so a situation like this didn't arise.

Okay, you may still have other criticisms surrounding the awarding. But so did Brazil. And where did those complaints go as soon as the first whistle was blown? Who was talking about the workers that a died in the construction of the stadiums when Marcelo knocked the ball past his own keeper in Brazil's opening match against Croatia?

Nobody, or rather, very few. 

Transparency, listening and just a bit of forward thinking was all that was needed by FIFA and this mess could, and probably would, have been avoided.

Maybe they'll do better next time....

Paul Osborne is a reporter for insidethegames. To follow him on Twitter click here.