World football’s governing body announced in March that the final would be held on December 18, Qatar’s national day, but had delayed choosing a start date while it held talks over the host country's 2019-2024 national team fixture schedule.

The 2022 World Cup is to be played in the winter to avoid the fierce heat of June and July, and will be a shortened tournament over 28 days instead of the usual 32.

The decision to move the event to the end of 2022 means the avoidance of what was once seen as a potential clash with that year's Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, which will be staged by Beijing in February. 

It does however mean that the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Guinea will be moved from January to June, and that European football leagues will suffer some disruption, having to shut down as early as the end of October to allow countries to prepare to compete in Qatar.

The European Professional Football League (EPFL) has claimed the decision to stage the 2022 World Cup in November and December was "seriously damaging" for the European leagues, both from a sporting and financial standpoint.

Despite the many obstacles, the EPFL said at its General Assembly in Barcelona that it was "very disappointed" with the final decision made by FIFA, arguing a preferable solution would be to hold the tournament in May.

Swiss authorities confirmed last month that it has uncovered more than 100 reports of suspicious financial activity relating to the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively. 

The Swiss office of the attorney general has been investigating alleged corruption in the bidding processes for both tournaments and revealed the number of suspicious incidents it had exposed had reached three figures.

Organisers for both Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 have repeatedly denied any allegations of corruption.

Approval of the international match calendar for the 2018-2024 period was one of several decisions taken by the FIFA Executive Committee at its two-day meeting in Zurich.

Support was given to the call made by the "FIFA Task Force for Women's Football" for greater inclusion and participation of women in football, which will be referred to the 2016 FIFA Reform Committee for consideration in the development of final reform proposals.

It was also agreed that the next Executive Committee meeting, the last of 2015, will take place in Zurich in December with the exact date yet to be confirmed.



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August 2015: More than 100 reports of "suspicious financial activity" now received as part of 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process probe
March 2015: Decision to stage Qatar 2022 World Cup in winter "seriously damaging" for European leagues, warns EPFL
March 2015: FIFA announces World Cup final date for Qatar 2022
February 2015: Blatter sets December 18 deadline for Qatar 2022 World Cup final
February 2015: Africa Cup of Nations to be moved to suit proposed 2022 World Cup dates