FIFA looks out for its own best interests by approving winter World Cup in 2022

At length, we now know that we'll have a winter World Cup in 2022 – well, a fall World Cup, technically, from late November until Dec. 18. On Thursday, FIFA's Executive Committee ratified the recommendation by a task force that the 22nd edition of the almost century-old tournament, controversially awarded to Qatar over the United States, will be moved to summer for the first time.

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Why? Because it suits FIFA, even though it presents logistical disasters for just about everybody else. And because FIFA, the shepherds of the world's game, is far more concerned with its own interests than that of the game.

FIFA is essentially taking a sledgehammer to a finely tuned soccer calendar, which is the supporting structure of a billion-dollar industry, wherein every day of the year has been allotted and every last little gap in it has been filled with some event that might drive revenues.

The World Cup has always been in summer because that's the offseason for almost every domestic soccer league. In that spot, the World Cup has thrived. The most recent edition in Brazil last summer reportedly grossed some $4 billion from sponsorship, ticket sales, merchandising and broadcasting rights, half of which was profit for FIFA – and very little of which will benefit the host country, even though it unhappily footed the infrastructure bill of $11.3 billion.

Now FIFA will put a World Cup smack in the middle of the club season, which will have to be put on hold.

This could have been avoided, of course, if FIFA had listened to its own inspection committee and concurred that soccer cannot be played responsibly in the 120-degree heat of Qatari summer. But by the time it finally acknowledged this pesky truth, it only had two embarrassing choices left: relocate or reschedule the World Cup.

FIFA wouldn't revisit its choice of hosts – that would have required too much introspection and admission of guilt, after all – so, instead, it set about strong-arming the rest of the soccer world into adapting to a winter World Cup. FIFA would rather turn the game it governs on its head than admit it had made a grievous error and hand the World Cup to someone else – and likely face a lawsuit from Qatar.

This shift in timing will surely serve to heighten tensions between soccer's club game and the international governing bodies. The perpetual friction between the bill payers and the freeloaders, who cherry-pick the best talent for the most lucrative events without paying for it, will only worsen now that a World Cup could take a real bite out of clubs' bottom line. What's more, the players' workload will now be compressed into 10 months, rather than spread out over 11½, foretelling added injuries.

But with Europe's governing body, UEFA, signing off on the change, since its continental leagues won't be affected much, there wasn't ever much the clubs or domestic leagues could do. A refusal to interrupt their seasons could lead to severe sanctions from FIFA. It isn't inconceivable that the offending countries could be barred from the World Cup or its clubs banned from the continental UEFA competitions.

A World Cup in November and December will require all the leagues with a fall-to-spring schedule to go on hiatus for at least a month, if not two. This upends both tradition and logistical protocols, which will invariably dent revenue streams. Various accommodations will have to be made, like shortening the summer and winter breaks and compressing the continental season into an even tighter timeframe to allow for the break. Meanwhile, the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations now has to be moved from winter to summer; and the 2021 Confederations Cup can't be held in Qatar at all – again, because of the heat.

"I'm very disappointed, that's the word, on behalf of all the European leagues and particularly the European clubs who provide most of the players for this World Cup," Richard Scudamore, the chief executive of the English Premier League, the world's highest-grossing soccer league, told reporters following the task force's recommendation. "For the integrity of the Football League, to have to stop for six or seven weeks is less than ideal."

The European Club Association, which represents the interests of Europe's 200 biggest clubs, demanded compensation for the immense disruption to the seasons and the toll that will be exerted on the players. FIFA, in typical fashion, rejected that demand out of hand.

"It's not perfect, we know that, but why are we talking about compensation?" FIFA's general secretary Jerome Valcke said in a press conference. "It's happening once, we're not destroying football. Why should we apologize to the clubs?"

Ultimately, FIFA has little to lose here. The only collateral damage thus far has been awarding FOX Sports the broadcast rights to the 2026 World Cup without opening up a bid, an apparent pre-lawsuit settlement for having sold it the rights to a summer tournament that will now be held during the NFL season.

FIFA continues to do as it pleases, unconcerned for consequences or its fetid image. In this scheming, the players are the pawns and will likely suffer through a long and arduous 2022-23 season with no benefits gained for them. The FIFA behemoth remains unmovable. Its reputation for being self-centered, hubristic and inflexible is deeply entrenched. And the interests that have been harmed, as usual, aren't its own.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.