Some say it will cause utter chaos. Others say it is necessary. And while on paper it is a possible shift of a few months in scheduling an event that will not take place for nine more years, the idea of moving the 2022 World Cup has already enmeshed the global soccer world in a polarizing debate.

The issue is whether to stage the tournament in Qatar during the searing heat of the Middle Eastern summer, when it is now scheduled to be played, or to shift it to closer to winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, the sport’s international governing body, has signaled that he supports moving the event to the relative cool of November. That change may appeal to common sense, but it also raises a host of complications, including logistics, money and tradition, that are the topic of intense discussion among leagues and fans around the world.

The debate is the latest twist in a what has been a controversy from the moment FIFA awarded the World Cup to Qatar in 2010. Over the past few weeks, Blatter and other top officials have increased their public lobbying for an unprecedented switch away from the World Cup’s traditional summer schedule, when most of the world’s top leagues and players are in their off-season. Blatter plans to ask FIFA’s executive committee for a formal vote on the move during a meeting in early October.

Perhaps sensing the shifting pendulum, a top official with the European Clubs’ Association, which is a group of top teams in Europe, said Tuesday that the change was “almost inevitable.”