FIFA quash World Cup bid compensation claims

FIFA have quashed Football Federation Australia’s (FFA) compensation bid, should they change the schedule of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

FFA chairman Frank Lowy said on Tuesday that FIFA were risking compromising the bidding process if they were to adjust the scheduling in the Middle East nation based on its searing summer temperatures.

However, FIFA have moved to stamp out any potential bids for compensation from losing bidders such as Australia, as speculation increases that the Qatar World Cup will be held in the northern hemisphere’s winter.

“As part of the bidding documents all bidders, including the FA Australia, accepted that the format and dates of the staging of the FIFA World Cup and FIFA Confederations Cup, though initially expected to be in June/July, remains subject to the final decision of the FIFA Organising Committee,” a FIFA spokesperson said on Tuesday.

“There is no ground for any speculations (of compensation).”

Lowy had claimed 24 hours earlier that FIFA should provide ‘just and fair compensation’ to the losing nations in the 2022 bidding, with a schedule move for the Qatar showpiece now firmly on the cards.

The FFA spent 43 million Australian dollars, most of which was money provided by the Australian government, on their dual bid for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

“Australia invested heavily in the World Cup process and the entire nation was behind the bid,” Lowy said.

“Since December 2010, Australia has been careful not to let its misgivings about the process be interpreted as sour grapes.

“But now, with increasing speculation about a change that will impact on us as one of the bidding nations, and because our competition will be affected, we have made our position public.”

FIFA could make the decision to switch the 2022 World Cup from mid-year to January/February at their executive committee meeting on October 3-4.

President Sepp Blatter has already hinted handing hosting rights to the Middle East nation could be a ‘mistake’ in an interview earlier in September.