Fifa President Sepp Blatter has cast doubt on the 2022 World Cup being moved to the winter after ruling out the prospect of the tournament being held in January or February of that year.

Blatter says a clash with the 2022 Winter Olympics - which has yet to have a venue confirmed but typically gets under way inside the first two weeks of February - would be "totally disrespectful to the Olympic family and organisation".

The president of world football's governing body also claimed other considerations had to be taken into account, with the World Cup and the Olympics sharing many commercial and media partners.

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"We will not play the World Cup in January and February," Blatter said in a statement on Saturday.

"It would be totally disrespectful to the Olympic family and organisation when they have the Winter Olympic Games in January and February.

"We have also consulted our economic and media partners. So many different partners are with FIFA and the Olympic Games so we can not have the partners in two competitions at the same time."

PA

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