So much for Sepp Blatter's plans to play the 2022 World Cup in Qatar during the winner to avoid the Gulf state's summer heat. Mohammed bin Hammam, the Qatari member of FIFA's executive committee, dismissed recent suggestions that the World Cup be played in the winter and also in other Gulf states.

"I believe Qatar can stand alone and organize the competition by itself," bin Hammam told Sky News, "and I'm really not very impressed by these opinions to distribute the game over the Gulf or change the time from July to January. We submitted a bid suggesting we are going to be ready in June, July. And we said we are going to face all the challenges and we are going to meet all the requirements. Our focus is June, July. It is never our interest to change one week beyond June, July."

Bin Hammam went on to blast FIFA as an out-dated organization lacking in transparency and admitted the perception was that it is a corrupt organization. He said some kind of oversight body needs to be created. "There must be [something] that people can really measure us on."