Why is the Qatar World Cup being played in winter?

While some have voiced concern over Fifa's decision to select Qatar as host, there is no doubt that the 2022 Fifa World Cup will set a number of precedents in the competition's long and prestigious history.

In keeping with Fifa's promise to host at least one major international tournament in the region before 2030, Qatar 2022 will be the first World Cup held in the Middle East.

Qatar 2022 will be the first World Cup held in the Northern Hemisphere winter months, from November to December.

Initially, the majority of competing nations voiced their disapproval of this idea due to the impact on domestic European seasons, but Fifa stood firm in its decision to keep Qatar as the tournament host.

For years, the global football calendar was structured around a June-July World Cup. This year's change has forced domestic and continental club competitions to schedule their games with a break right at the middle of the action.

The decision to host the World Cup in the Northern Hemisphere winter months was a key aspect of Qatar's bid for the 2022 competition, due to soaring summer temperatures in the country.

Despite the opposition to the idea - dating as far back as 2010 - Fifa's two feasibility studies in Qatar, in 2014 and 2015, stated that the tournament was not viable to be played between the traditional June-July slots.

 The main reason behind the decision was soaring summer temperatures in the country.

The domestic Qatar Stars League traditionally runs from September to April, due to excessive heat, with even average temperatures at the end of April reaching around 33°C.

As part of the Qatar 2022 bid team's attempts to address the issues of heat and humidity, including in the winter months, each World Cup stadium will be fitted with a "focused cooling" air-conditioning system.

Winter temperatures in Qatar, and specifically in the Doha region, average between 21-25°C, compared to over 37 °C in the region's summer.

What will the highest temperatures be during the 2022 World Cup? 
The 2022 World Cup starts on November 20 in Qatar when temperatures generally start falling heading into winter. 

Early group games will likely be the hottest with highs of 26-28°C possible. 

Two group games each day of the tournament will be played at 13:00 and 16:00 (local time) and this is when the highest temperatures of the World Cup will be encountered. 

Knockout matches will then be played exclusively in the evening to further mitigate the heat in Qatar. 

The knockout rounds also won't start until December which is officially the start of winter in Qatar with average daily temperatures dropping to between 19-26°C

One of the major adaptations that Qatari officials have had to make is to ensure that all eight stadiums involved in the competition will be air-conditioned.

Despite concerns over the ability of coolant machines to substantially bring down the temperature in open-air stadiums, each venue has been equipped with specially designed cooling units.

The technology has been developed along with Qatar University, using solar energy to power fans that pull in outside air and cool it.