MARK Cooper has slammed the notion of a winter World Cup, stating that the move could create chaos in the Football League.

After FIFA awarded the 2022 tournament to the desert nation of Qatar, secretary general Jérôme Valcke this week stated that the event will switch from its traditional June and July slot to some time between mid-November and mid-January.

With European leagues set to be interrupted by any change and England in particular, Cooper has lambasted Valcke’s su.

He told the Advertiser: “I dread to think. You’re going to have some supporters watching the World Cup that would otherwise be watching Swindon Town.

“It’s chaos. I think they’ve known all along what they’re going to do. I tell you what, we’ll play for 12 months just because Mr Blatter decides we’re going to have a month’s jolly up in Qatar and we’re not going to worry about anyone else’s domestic game. It’s ridiculous.

“I don’t know how they’ve got away with it. I think there will be some protests and some people might dig their heels in and say we’re not going.”

Cooper thinks that those countries who missed out on hosting the tournament in eight years’ time - notably Australia, Japan and the USA - could challenge FIFA’s decision legally.

“It’s an absolute shambles. How can you have a process where you know the World Cup is in the summer and everybody puts their bid in aware of what it is, that the World Cup is based in June, and then they give the World Cup to Qatar and because the weather isn’t right they move it to the winter? It’s absolutely crazy,” he said.

“I think there’ll be problems with the people that did bid and were unsuccessful. They’re going to come for FIFA, aren’t they? And rightly so. The World Cup is for summer, it always has been, it’s for June and always will be. It’s just another example of people running FIFA who shouldn’t be anywhere near it.”