The much-maligned winter World Cup in Qatar in 2022 will be staged between November 21 to December 18, according to media reports.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter was set to hold a press conference at the Executive Committee meeting in Zurich, but the meeting was cancelled at the last minute.

The world governing body had already signed off a date change to winter avoid the heat in Qatar in June and July, while the tournament length was also reduced to 28 days instead of the usual 32.

A FIFA task force, led by Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa, had recommended the tournament should be held in November and December as a clash with the Winter Olympics in the following January, would also be undesirable.

Around 170 media had been accredited for the news conference in Zurich and were only told of the press conference cancellation five minutes before it was due to start.

It followed a FIFA executive committee on Friday morning where a number of decisions were taken. These included moving the venue of the next meeting from Japan to Zurich - almost certainly because Japan has an extradition treaty with the United States and Blatter and several other officials are fearful of possible arrest.

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