2022 Winter Olympic won't move for Qatar World Cup

The 2022 Winter Olympics will remain in the traditional February time slot and will not be moved to make way for a rescheduled World Cup in Qatar, the head of the world's national Olympic committees said Thursday.

FIFA is currently considering moving the World Cup to avoid the summer heat in Qatar, including a possible shift to January-February — a period that would clash with the Olympics.

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, president of the Association of National Olympic Committees, said the Winter Games arrangements are already locked in and the onus is on the World Cup to avoid clashing with the Olympics rather than the other way around.

Sheikh Ahmad, a powerful IOC member who also heads Asia's Olympic association, said the World Cup timing is an issue for FIFA and not the International Olympic Committee.

"The Olympics should be maintained," Sheikh Ahmad said. "The IOC will maintain their time because we already have been committed, the organizers have been organized, the broadcasting, the marketing partners."

The IOC has repeatedly said that it has assurances from FIFA President Sepp Blatter that the two events will not clash.