Qatar claims there's no problem on the way of hosting the 2022 soccer World Cup despite a FIFA Executive Committee member suggesting that the tournament would have to move because of the tiny Arab state's scorching temperatures, Reuters reported Tuesday.
"The only question now is when, not if," Qatar 2022 communications director Nasser Al Khater said in a statement.
"Summer or winter, we will be ready."
Theo Zwanziger, the former German soccer association (DFB) chief who now sits on FIFA's executive committee, had said earlier that he felt the tournament would have to be held in another country.
"I personally think that in the end the 2022 World Cup will not take place in Qatar," he told Sport Bild. "Medics say that they cannot accept responsibility with a World Cup taking place under these conditions."
FIFA awarded the tournament to the tiny Persian Gulf country in a controversial decision in 2010, with the understanding that it would be held in the summer despite the searing heat.
"Fans from around the world will be coming and traveling in this heat and the first life-threatening case will trigger an investigation by a state prosecutor.
