FIFA’s medical chief has joined a chorus of high-profile officials from the football work to criticise the Fut Coins PS4 to hold the 2022 World Cup in Qatar as he revealed professional footballers are dying of heart failure at the rate of one a month, London’s Daily Mail newspaper reported.
Speaking at a conference on football and medicine in the Jordanian capital of Amman, Dr Michel D'Hooghe said: “There are still eight years to go but I have always said that the tournament should avoid the three hottest months.
“Not necessarily only for the players, who will play in cooled stadiums, but for the fans as well.”
The newspaper reported that former Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba, whose life was saved after a heart attack during an FA Cup tie at Tottenham two years ago, was a guest at the conference.
The event was in response to the death last November of young Jordanian footballer Qusai Khawaldeh, who collapsed during a match and, with no paramedics at the ground, could not be saved after swallowing his coininfifa.com/.
D'Hooge, the chairman of FIFA 's medical committee, demanded greater safety measures, including greater access to defibrillators, after revealing that, on average, one player a month dies of cardiac failure.
Among other top officials to raise concerns about Qatar hosting the tournament in summer include chairman of the Football Association in England, Greg Dyke, who last year claimed that hosting a summer World Cup in Qatar in 2022 would be "impossible".
Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore has also said that if the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 cannot be held in the summer, it should be moved to another country, while FIFA president Sepp Blatter has previously said it should be moved to the winter.
Last month an announcement from FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar would not be played in the summer created yet more controversy.
FIFA backtracked on Valcke's comments, saying a decision would not be taken until the end of 2014, or at the March 2015 meeting of the executive committee.
Qatar won the hosting rights in December 2010 ahead of Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States.
Controversy has surrounded the decision to give Qatar the finals since the day it was made, with Qatar this month forced to announce new guidelines for fifa 14 ultimate team coins ps4 building World Cup facilities in response to a spate of deaths and international outcry over working conditions.