After the end of Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup, which is expected a lot, Qatar will once once more be on the cusp of hosting a new tournament that people are looking forward to, the 2023 Asian Cup.
The Asian Football Confederation announced that Qatar will organize the 2023 Asian Cup following the Qatari file outperformed Indonesia and South America, so that the Qatari glow continues at the level of organizing major sporting events.
But the date of the 2023 Asian Cup is what raised questions. If the World Cup has been moved from summer to winter in order for the atmosphere to be suitable, how can a full tournament at the level of the Asian Cup be hosted in the summer?
To answer this question, we must first review the dates of the previous Asian Cup tournaments, and also know when the 2023 Asian Cup will be held.
When will the 2023 Asian Cup be held?
The 2023 Asian Cup will be held in the summer, specifically between June 16 and July 16, 2023, and its establishment at that time raised many questions.
Researching history makes us know well that the Asian continent, which is the largest in the world in terms of area, has a climate that plays an important role in organizing its most important tournament, the Asian Cup.
Therefore, the climatic factors of the host country are the most important determinant of the date of the Asian Cup.
There were 8 previous editions held in the summer, namely 1956, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 2004 and 2007, while 6 editions were held in the winter season, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2011, 2015 and 2019, and 3 editions were held between summer and winter, namely 1960, 1992 and 2000.
So, dates throughout history are not settled in the Asian Cup so that the tournament will be held at a specific time, unlike the African Championship, for example, which is usually held in winter, but some considerations transfer it to the summer.
Why did the Asian Cup change from the last version?
Someone might say that holding the World Cup in the summer, as usual, and then holding the Asian Cup in the winter, is better for world football, but this may not be better for the level of the two championships.
The European teams with the largest share of the World Cup (13 teams) will not get used to the hot weather in Qatar in the summer, which will make it difficult to participate in the tournament at this time, and this is known since the start of the Qatari file in its preparatory campaign to organize the World Cup.
The Asian Cup can be held in the winter, but two main factors can not be overlooked. The first is that professional Asian players in European clubs will not return to their leagues, then, as the World Cup will be held at the end of 2022 and then the new year begins with the Asian Cup 2023, and this will mean the clubs will lose Asian players for long periods of the season.
On the other hand, Qatar will have to gather its papers following hosting the World Cup and re-preparation to organize a major tournament the size of the Asian Cup in order to adequately promote it, and a period of 6 months is certainly sufficient for that.
When will the 2022 World Cup be held?
As for the World Cup, we are facing the first Winter World Cup in history, Qatar 2022 will have a unique advantage by holding it from November 20 to December 18, 2022.
All previous World Cups were held in the summer, so many consider the Qatar 2022 World Cup to be exceptional.
The matter was greeted with derision from European clubs, who will have to leave their players for regarding two months before returning to the local battles, which might lose performance rates and cause injuries, not to mention the physical effort expended on that trip.
Why change the date of the World Cup 2022?
Although the stadiums for the 2022 World Cup are equipped with air conditioning systems at the highest level, even inside the field, this did not make FIFA give up holding the tournament in the winter, which was a request from Qatar.
The high temperatures in Qatar during the summer (average 35 to 45 degrees Celsius) are the reason behind the matter, and the former FIFA Secretary General said in a press statement in 2014: “If the World Cup is played in November and December that would be an appropriate solution, that time It is the best weather in Qatar, the matches will be in temperatures equivalent to those in the summer of Europe, which is ideal for playing football.”
