Sepp Blatter's remarks about the possibility of staging the first winter World Cup are perhaps far more significant.

Two weeks after the oil rich Arab emirate was awarded the rights to stage the 2022 World Cup, a bandwagon is already rolling to try and move the competition from its usual place in the football calendar in June and July to January to avoid the scorching heat of summer in the Middle East.
First Fifa executive committee members and ex-players Franz Beckenbauer and Michel Platini floated the idea. Then on Thursday Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke said ""why not?"" when asked whether the event could be moved.
Then, on Friday, this from Blatter:
""I definitely support to play in winter here
[in the Middle East]. To play when the climate is appropriate and I'm thinking about the footballers, not only the fans but the actors.""
Now all this makes absolute sense. It could be as hot as 50 degrees in June/July in Qatar and for all the bid's plans for air-conditioned stadiums, Fifa's technical inspectors graded Qatar's bid high risk. This is what they said about the heat:
""The fact that the competition is planned in June/July, the two hottest months of the year in this region, has to be considered as a potential health risk for players, officials, the Fifa family and spectators, and requires precautions to be taken"".
Those precautions now seem to involve moving the event to a cooler time of the year.
Countries which missed out to Qatar in the race for 2022, such as the United States and Australia, were already feeling sore about the process. This is only going to add to their sense of injustice.
But, while it has always traditionally been held in the summer, there is nothing in its own statutes or regulations which requires Fifa to stage the World Cup at that time of year.
The regulations for each World Cup are different and the exact scheduling for Brazil 2014 is still being pinned down, although Valcke did say this week it was likely to be from 6 June-6 July or between 13 June and 13 July.
Even the bidding requirements given to those nations who entered the contests for 2018 and 2022, leave Fifa sufficient wiggle room.
Fifa states: ""In principle the Fifa World Cup should be staged in June/July but this could be subject to change at any stage.""
The only real impediment - and this is a bit like saying the only thing between England and the Ashes is Australia - is the international match calendar which is subject to difficult negotiation between all the confederations, clubs and leagues around the world.
Fifa says this tends to be worked out two or three seasons in advance while it is also worth noting qualification for the World Cup starts three and a half years out from the finals.
So it is not simply a matter of Fifa and Qatar 2022 organisers choosing a date and leaving the rest of football to sort out the small print.
With 12 years to go until Qatar 2022 there is a lot of time to work all these issues out.
But with Europe's big clubs certain to resist any attempt to move the tournament, the battle lines are being drawn extremely early.
(Source: BBC)