FIFA president Sepp Blatter has ruled out the prospect of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar being moved to January or February of that year, as it would clash with the 2022 Winter Olympics, which typically gets under way inside the first two weeks of February.

Over the past few months there has been growing pressure from Fifa officials and other football leaders to move the tournament to the winter to avoid the summer heat of Qatar. Although Blatter has recently said he wants the Qatar tournament moved to the winter on health and safety grounds, he now believes the tournament cannot be played in the first two months of 2022.

“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 cannot have the partners in two competitions at the same time.”