鈥淢ore risk of injury鈥 with winter World Cup 鈥 Professor John Brewer

Thu 09 January, 2014
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SPORT science expert Professor John Brewer has stated players are at 鈥渕ore risk of injury鈥 and three seasons of football will be 鈥渟everely affected鈥 if the 2022 Qatar World Cup is to be moved to the winter.

鈥淭here will be a risk of severe burnout for many players, who could have to play for 18 months virtually non-stop assuming the Premier League will be forced to reduce pre-season in the summers of 2022 and 2023, as opposed to the normal two months, to accommodate the competition.

鈥淭his will be detrimental to teams hoping to perform anywhere near to their best and will have a negative knock-on effect for all competitions in Europe and further afield,鈥 said Professor Brewer, Director of Sport and Sports Enterprise at the 亚色视频.

Professor John Brewer

Professor John Brewer

A former Head of Sports Science at the FA, Professor Brewer was reacting to the claim by FIFA鈥檚 general secretary, Jerome Valcke, who today (Wednesday) told Radio France that the tournament will be held between November 2022 and January 2023.

The claim was quickly played down by the governing body, which stated no decision will be taken before the upcoming World Cup in Brazil 鈥 as agreed by the FIFA executive committee.

However, if, as expected, Qatar 22 is moved from the summer, European leagues face the problem of playing three consecutive seasons between 2021 and 2024.

And Professor Brewer, who was a member of Sir Bobby Robson鈥檚 England support staff at Italia 90, believes FIFA shouldn鈥檛 be so quick to abandon the idea of a summer World Cup.

鈥淭he combined factors of air-conditioned stadiums, evening kick-offs and an acclimatisation period of around a month in Qatar would have made a summer World Cup feasible.

鈥淭his would have also caused minimal disruption to the domestic seasons, some three of which could be severely affected by a winter World Cup,鈥 he added.

To contact Professor Brewer for an interview regarding the 2022 Qatar World Cup, please contact simon.wesson@beds.ac.uk

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