Following a six-month consultation process, FIFA identified end-November/end-December as the most suitable period for staging the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

This became clear after FIFA's Task Force for the International Match Calendar 2018-2024 held its third and final meeting in Doha.

All six Confederations approved the proposed dates and the proposal will be discussed at the meeting of FIFA's Executive Committee, which is scheduled to take place on March 19 and 20.

It also emerged that FIFA was exploring the opportunity of staging the Confederations Cup 2021 in another Asian Football Confederation (AFC) country in the traditional June/July window.

Another possibility that was discussed was for the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup to be relocated to Qatar to as an operational test event for the country in November/December 2021.

Alternative dates have been discussed for the World Cup to be hosted during the traditional June/July window.

The representatives of the leagues once again highlighted the impact that a November/December tournament would have on their respective calendars.

The November/December window was identified as the most suitable period after other conditions were taken into account.

The 2022 Winter Olympics will most likely be held in February, the month of Ramadan begins in April, while hot conditions are predominant from May to September in Qatar.

For legal reasons the 22^nd World Cup has to be held within the calendar year 2022, which leaves November/December as the most suitable period for the holding of the tournament.

This will be the first time that an Arab country will host the World Cup and the first time that it will be held in the region of the Middle East.