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BERNE — FIFA has revived the possibility of staging the 2022 World Cup in January and February after President Sepp Blatter previously ruled out the idea last year.

Three possible time slots were discussed for the tournament as a FIFA task force, set up specifically to decide once and for all when the finals should take place, met for the first time at the headquarters of world football’s governing body on Monday.

Qatar was awarded the World Cup on the widely held understanding that it would be staged in the summer despite the searing heat in the country.

Although Qatar has insisted that a summer World Cup is viable thanks to cooling technologies it is developing for stadiums, training areas and fan zones, there is still widespread concern over the health of the players and visiting supporters.

“Discussions centred around the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, and participants were presented with information on the implications of staging the event in winter as opposed to summer, as proposed by the FIFA executive committee,” FIFA said in a statement.

“FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke clarified that, based on the hosting agreement, the FIFA World Cup must be held in 2022.

“The options of January/February 2022 and November/December 2022 were put forward as alternatives to June/July 2022, and initial feedback received.”

Last November, Blatter categorically ruled out a winter World Cup that could clash with the Winter Olympics.

“The FIFA World Cup can only be played in November/December 2022, no way it’s going to take place in January/February,” he told a news conference in Abu Dhabi at the time.

“We have to see how we can have the FIFA World Cup played in winter, but only November/December are possible.”

Blatter assurances 

The International Olympic Committee, contacted by Reuters, said on Monday it had received assurances from Blatter the 2022 World Cup would not clash with the Winter Olympics, the world’s biggest winter sports event.

“It is in the interest of both organisations [FIFA and the IOC] that there is no clash between our calendars,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams. “We have received assurances from President Blatter that this will not be the case.”

Monday’s meeting included representatives from European clubs, leagues and the world players’ union FIFPro as well as national association representatives.

“This is the first meeting and there will be future meetings on this matter,” said Asian Football Confederation President Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, who chaired the meeting.

“We have made progress at today’s meeting and will continue to work together to find the best solution for football.”

However, Blatter, speaking in a taped interview shown to the Footballex convention in Manchester, seemed to rule out a summer World Cup, even though it was put to the task force.

“We have already said we cannot play in summer in this heat in Qatar,” he said. “We have to play in winter.

“Now we are making this consultation but it is the first official one, so far.

“So far the FIFA Secretary Jerome Valcke has made some contact by telephone with the different leagues and now we will bring them together and identify what is the best possible moment to play in Qatar. But that decision is not taken. Definitely not.”

MONZA, Italy — Ferrari’s fall from grace is no longer just a worry on the Formula One track. It’s a cause for concern in the corporate boardroom, too.

After six years without a title, the events at and around the weekend’s Italian Grand Prix appear to have set the stage as a tipping point for sweeping changes.

For the first time since 2008, Ferrari failed to land a car on the podium in its home race.

Fernando Alonso retired Sunday due to a mechanical problem on lap 30 of 53 and teammate Kimi Raikkonen finished ninth.

“In Formula One, as in sport in general, there are days to forget and this was certainly one of them,” said team principal Marco Mattiacci, who was installed in April when Stefano Domenicali resigned amid the team’s worst run in nearly 20 years.

But the results were only part of the story.

Speculation had been swirling even before the weekend that Ferrari President Luca Di Montezemolo was being forced out of the company four decades after founding father Enzo Ferrari brought him in.

On Saturday, Montezemolo held court in the Monza paddock and insisted he was happy to stay.

“In March I told the shareholders and especially the people at Ferrari, who I’m very close to, that I would be available for another three years,” Montezemolo said. “If there is then anything new, I myself would be the first to say so.”

Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Ferrari’s parent company Fiat and Chrysler, may have interpreted Montezemolo’s words as a warning linked to how big of a pay-off Montezemolo might demand to step aside before his mandate as president ends in 2017.

“We’re not talking about him quitting but nobody is indispensable,” Marchionne said in nearby Cernobbio on Sunday — about half an hour before Alonso’s retirement.

“There are two elements of Ferrari that are important for us: economic results, on which Montezemolo has done a great job, and the sporting management. Ferrari’s heart belongs to winning in F1. Seeing it in this kind of shape, without having won anything since 2008 — even with the best drivers in the world and great engineers — upsets me and bothers me enormously.”

Ferrari has not won all season and with only six more races remaining, the team risks going winless for the first time since 1993 — when Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger were the team’s drivers.

“It’s a tough time for the team and last six races won’t be much better,” Alonso said after pulling to a stop on the main straightaway and getting driven back to the paddock on the back of a scooter as tens of thousands of red-clad Ferrari fans looked on in astonishment. “We’ll be behind Mercedes, Red Bull and Williams. We can’t win. And whether I’m fifth, sixth or retired doesn’t change much for me and my future. I want to win.”

A Ferrari car hadn’t retired for mechanical problems in 86 races and Sunday’s results dropped Ferrari to fourth in the constructor’s standings behind Williams in third. Mercedes, which posted a 1-2 finish with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, holds a massive 182-point lead in the team category ahead of Red Bull.

“We didn’t have the power or speed to pass on the straightaway,” Raikkonen said.

On Saturday, cars with Mercedes engines took the top six spots in qualifying and Honda is planning a major return to F1 next year with McLaren, which will give Ferrari another big supplier to do battle with.

And with Fiat and Chrysler set to list their new merged company on the New York Stock Exchange next month, Marchionne is also under pressure to provide results.

“We are at the service of the company,” Marchionne said. “When a company changes ideas, or when goals become more centralised, things change.”

Fiat controls 90 per cent of Ferrari.

A former chairman of Fiat, Montezemolo is also a member of the company’s board of directors. But not for long.

At Fiat’s last shareholder’s meeting, it emerged that Montezemolo will be left off the board of the merged company. Current Chairman John Elkann said the move was made to reflect the international composition of the new automaker.

Alonso could be in for change, too.

The Spaniard won two F1 titles when he was with Renault and is still considered one of the top drivers in the sport. But his contract is set to expire in 2016 and so far there has been no word of an extension.

“I’ve always said that I want to stay with Ferrari and if there are no big changes I’ll stay for at least another two years,” Alonso told Sky TV last week. “But we need to evaluate and work on maintaining this marriage in a winning manner.”

LONDON — Two months after winning the World Cup, Germany opened its 2016 European Championship campaign with a 2-1 victory over Scotland on Sunday, while Portugal and Greece both slumped to defeats in their qualifying matches.

Thomas Mueller scored both Germany’s goals — a difficult backward header in the 18th minute and a close-range effort in the 70th — just four minutes after Ikechi Anya had grabbed a deserved equaliser for Scotland.

“I’m satisfied with the three points. It was important to start with a win,” said Germany coach Joachim Loew, whose side is unbeaten in 33 European Championship or World Cup qualifiers.

Elsewhere, a Portugal side without injured Cristiano Ronaldo lost 1-0 at home to Albania, 10-man Romania beat Greece 1-0 and Serbia drew 1-1 with Euro 2016 host France in a friendly.

Germany laboured for long periods in the Group D match, particularly in the second half when the Scots were at their most dangerous, but still the home side might have scored more goals.

“They’re very well organised. We missed one or two chances to make it more convincing. Then it got a bit close toward the end,” Mueller said.

Mueller missed two good opportunities before making the most of his third, when he beat two defenders to Sebastian Rudy’s cross and looped the ball over the goalkeeper.

Anya equalised when he raced onto Steven Fletcher’s through ball and beat Neuer with a cool finish inside the far post.

But Mueller soon restored the home side’s lead after a goalmouth scramble, rifling the ball to the roof of the net after Scotland failed to clear.

Scotland ended the game with 10 men after Charlie Mulgrew earned two yellow cards in injury time.

In the other Group D matches, Poland routed Gibraltar 7-0 in Portugal on the “home” side’s competitive UEFA debut, and Ireland beat Georgia 2-1 in Tbilisi.

Portugal sorely missed Ronaldo’s firepower as it was upset by unfancied Albania and was loudly jeered by unhappy fans.

Bekim Bajal’s spectacular second-half volley embarrassed the Portuguese who couldn’t translate their dominance into goals, although Nani came close several times in his 75th appearance and newcomer Ricardo Horta hit the woodwork.

The surprise result compounded Portugal’s problems after its disappointing first-round exit at the World Cup in Brazil.

Portugal commonly struggles in qualifying campaigns and had to go through the play-offs to reach the 2010 World Cup, Euro 2012 and the 2014 World Cup.

Also in Group I, Denmark came from behind to beat Armenia 2-1. Pierre Emile Hojbjerg levelled and substitute Thomas Kahlenberg netted the late winner for Denmark which fell behind to an early goal from Armenia’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Aleksander Kolarov’s 80th-minute equaliser earned Serbia a 1-1 draw against France, which qualifies automatically as host country. Paul Pogba scored for the French.

It was visitors’ day in Group F with 10-man Romania beating Greece, Northern Ireland finding late goals to defeat Hungary 2-1 and Finland beating the Faroe Islands 3-1 after being a goal down at halftime.

Greece was perhaps lucky to have played in front of empty stands — due to a home stadium ban — as the players were spared the likely embarrassment of being booed by their own fans for a sub-par performance.

Romania captain Ciprian Marica scored the winner with a penalty in the 10th minute, and then left his teammates to eke out a victory after getting sent off with a second yellow card in the 53rd minute.

In Budapest, Niall McGinn, in the 81st, and Kyle Lafferty, in the 88th, led Northern Ireland to the win over Hungary. Tamas Priskin had opened the scoring for the hosts in the 75th minute.

At Torshavn, Riku Riski scored in the 53rd and 78th minutes for Finland, with Roman Eremenko adding a third in the 78th. Christian Holst had opened the scoring for the Faroe Islands in the 41st minute.

BERLIN — France winger Franck Ribery’s decision to retire from international football after missing the World Cup could lead to a suspension from club football, UEFA President Michel Platini said on Sunday.

The Bayern Munich player, who missed the Brazil tournament in June and July despite intensive treatment for a lower back injury, announced last month he would not play for France any longer to focus on club football with the German champions.

“He cannot decide by himself whether he will play for France or not,” Platini, the head of European football, told Germany’s Bild newspaper.

“If coach Didier Deschamps calls him up he must come to the national team. If he does not show up he will be suspended for three Bayern Munich games.”

Platini is a former France captain who led them to the 1984 European Championship title.

Ribery, a 2006 World Cup finalist who was Europe’s player of the year in 2013, said he wanted to make way for a younger generation of players.

The 31-year-old won 81 caps and scored 16 international goals since making his debut for France in 2006.

Ribery’s France career was also marked by a players’ revolt at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with the winger at the forefront of the strike in support of forward Nicolas Anelka who had been kicked out of the squad for insulting then coach Raymond Domenech.

MADRID — Coach Vicente del Bosque must cope with the absence of first-choice striker Diego Costa and try to reverse Spain’s recent inability to find the net when they host Macedonia in Monday’s opening Euro 2016 qualifier.

Costa, who played 66 minutes of Thursday’s 1-0 friendly defeat to France, was forced to abandon the European champions’ squad on Friday with a thigh injury and Del Bosque sprung a surprise by replacing the Chelsea forward with Barcelona teenager Munir el Haddadi.

An Under-21 international who turned 19 on Monday, Munir is of Moroccan origin and only made his debut for Barcelona in their opening La Liga match at home to Elche last month, scoring in a 3-0 win.

A skilful left-footer who has something of the Lionel Messi about him and looks a bit like Neymar, Munir’s call-up prompted claims in the Spanish media that Del Bosque had selected him so he would be tied to Spain and cannot play for Morocco.

With Costa out, Del Bosque has only three recognised forwards in Munir, Barcelona teammate Pedro and Paco Alcacer of Valencia, who won his first Spain cap as a substitute in the France game.

Spain failed to muster a shot on target at the Stade de France, with local media reporting it was the first time that had happened since 1990, and Del Bosque said after the game his tactics would be more attacking against the Macedonians.

“Next Monday we will focus more on offence and we will try to get the three points,” he told a news conference.

Spain, who won consecutive European titles in 2008 and 2012, are desperate to return to winning ways after a woeful World Cup when their title defence foundered in the group stage with defeats to the Netherlands and Chile.

For all the talk of a fresh start, there will be a host of familiar faces in the team at Levante’s Ciutat de Valencia stadium on Monday.

Midfield stalwarts Xavi and Xabi Alonso may have gone, retiring after the finals in Brazil, but the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Sergio Busquets, David Silva and Santi Cazorla are still an integral part of Del Bosque’s plans.

Captain Iker Casillas remains first-choice goalkeeper and is likely to have the familiar sight of Real Madrid teammate Sergio Ramos and Napoli’s Raul Albiol in front of him in central defence, with Jordi Alba and Cesar Azpilicueta playing and left and right back respectively.

Silva defended Spain’s possession-based playing style, saying it had worked well in the past and there was no reason to change.

“We have won a lot playing in that way... and many of us are used to it,” the Manchester City midfielder told a news conference at Spain’s training base in Madrid on Saturday.

“I believe we should stick with it. Some very important players have left but those of us here are important too and the new players will be as well.”

Euro 2016 qualification Group C also includes Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia and Luxembourg.

MONZA, Italy — Lewis Hamilton battled back from an agonisingly slow start to win the Italian Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday and slash teammate Nico Rosberg’s Formula One championship lead to 22 points.

Rosberg finished second as dominant Mercedes celebrated their first one-two since Austria in June and seventh in 13 races.

With the sport taking a deep breath as the championship rivals lined up together on the front row, two weeks after they had collided in Belgium, the start provided an immediate sensation.

Hamilton had taken pole position for the first time since May but problems with the car’s start mode left him struggling to get away and fourth into the first corner as Rosberg sped away untroubled.

It was the start of a thrilling chase, with the 2008 world champion fighting back and retaking the lead on the 29th of 53 laps when Rosberg missed the first chicane as he had done earlier in the race.

With the German under pressure and driving straight on, slowing and weaving to get back on track, Hamilton seized the lead in the decisive moment of the afternoon.

The two crossed the finish line 3.1 seconds apart, with Hamilton celebrating his first win since Britain in July. It was his fifth of the season and 28th of his career, taking him ahead of triple champion Jackie Stewart in the all-time lists.

“It was a difficult race,” said Hamilton. “For whatever reason, at the start the button didn’t press which engages the launch sequence.

“For the formation lap it didn’t work and when I got to the grid and put it on again, again it didn’t work. It was very strange. I’ve never really had that happen before.

“I tried to pull away as fast as possible and the RPM was all over the place. Fortunately I managed to not lose too many places.”

Rosberg now has 238 points to Hamilton’s 216, with six races remaining after the end of the European part of the season.

Brazilian Felipe Massa finished third for Williams, his first podium appearance since Spain last year with Ferrari, on Brazilian independence day and after the team had announced he was staying for 2015.

The points, at the fastest track on the calendar, meant Williams leapfrogged Ferrari into third place in the constructors’ standings.

In the absence of their current Ferrari heroes, the passionate home crowd welcomed their ex-driver’s appearance on the podium with cheers as they spilled out in a vast red wave onto the start/finish straight.

Rosberg, blamed by his own team for the second lap Spa collision that led to Hamilton’s retirement from that race, was booed for the second Grand Prix in a row.

Massa’s Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas was fourth following another highly impressive day of overtaking after he had dropped from the second row to 10th at the end of the first lap.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso retired from his team’s home race on lap 29 with a failure in the car’s energy recovery system, his first mechanical retirement in 86 races, while Kimi Raikkonen finished ninth.

Until Sunday, Alonso was the only driver to have scored points in every race this season.

BERNE — FIFA ethics committee investigator Michael Garcia has completed his probe into the controversial bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively, and handed in a 350-page report.

The report, which has not been made public, will be submitted to the ethics committee’s adjudicatory chamber, headed by German Judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, to decide on whether any wrongdoing was committed, football’s governing body said on Friday.

FIFA said they could not comment on when Eckert might reach his decision.

During the course of the year-long investigation, Garcia and his deputy Cornel Borbely interviewed “more than 75 witnesses and compiled a record that, in addition to audio recordings from interviews, includes more than 200,000 pages of relevant material”, FIFA said.

“The report sets forth detailed factual findings; reaches conclusions concerning further action with respect to certain individuals; identifies issues to be referred to other FIFA committees; and makes recommendations for future bidding processes.”

The hosting rights for the two tournaments were awarded simultaneously by FIFA’s executive committee in Zurich in 2010 after a turbulent campaign.

Spain/Portugal, Belgium/Netherlands and England had also been bidding for 2018 while United States, Australia, South Korea and Japan had bid for 2022.

The executive committee which took the decision was reduced to 22 members instead of the usual 24 after two of them were suspended by the ethics committee one month before the vote.

Nigerian Amos Adamu was banned for breaches of five articles of FIFA’s ethics code including one on bribery and Reynald Temarii of Tahiti for breaching articles on general conduct and loyalty.

The case followed allegations by The Sunday Times that the pair offered to sell their votes to undercover reporters posing as lobbyists for an American consortium.

FIFA said that all bidding nations were interviewed during the investigation. Borbely took responsibility obtaining information from the US and Russia as Garcia is a national of the former and was barred from visiting the latter.

Shortly before this year’s World Cup in Brazil, the Sunday Times reported that some of the “millions of documents” it had seen linked payments by former FIFA executive committee member Mohamed Ben Hammam to officials to win backing for Qatar’s World Cup bid.

Ben Hammam has not commented on his involvement since he was banned for life from football in 2012 and Qatar has denied all allegations of corruption.

Qatar has also been criticised for its alleged treatment of migrant workers in the construction industry.

STOCKHOLM — Having equalled Sweden’s goalscoring record with a thumping left-foot volley, Zlatan Ibrahimovic set a new milestone in typically outrageous fashion, sweeping the ball into the net with the inside of his heel for his 50th international goal.

In the arena that he has made his own since scoring four goals against England on its opening night in 2012, the powerful striker took off his shirt to reveal another underneath with a message to his fans — “You Made It Possible”.

Ibrahimovic’s double in a 2-0 friendly win over Estonia on Thursday surpassed the mark of Sven Rydell, who scored his last international goals in 1932.

“That I scored with a back heel was probably a little lucky, but it was the only way I could score there,” Ibrahimovic said of his record-setting goal.

With the milestone reached, the 32-year-old seems determined to continue adding to his tally.

“I want so much, I want even more,” he told a media conference in Stockholm on Friday.

“Even if I’ve said there’s a couple of years left, I’m going to do the maximum in those years. Now I’ve gone past the goal record, we’ll keep going. It’s not over yet.”

Having scored his first goal for Sweden in a World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan in 2001, he might have broken the record even sooner, but the various coaches of the national team used him sparingly at times.

Fast-forward to 2014 and a Sweden team without their tall, talismanic striker is now unthinkable and fans dread to imagine a future without their captain, who has said he will most likely retire after the 2016 European Championships in France.

Until then he intends to continue adding to the enviable haul of silverware he has amassed from some of Europe’s biggest clubs including Ajax, Juventus, Inter, AC Milan and Barcelona.

“That’s what you look back at when you’ve finished,” Ibrahimovic said. “I have 23 collective titles and some individual titles, so the more I can gather, the bigger my list of merits will be.

“That’s what you play for. You play to win, and no-one can complain that one hasn’t won anything. It’s the other way around,” he said with a smile.

“It’s my will, my desire to be better. I train hard to be better, I want to be better than last season, I want to go forward all the time.

“I broke the record yesterday, but now I’m going to continue scoring goals to make it even harder for the next one who wants to break it.”

Sweden open their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign against Austria on Monday when Ibrahimovic is due to win his 100th cap.

MIAMI — It will be easier said than done but Brazil attempt to put their World Cup humiliation behind them when they start life under new coach Dunga in a friendly against Colombia in Miami on Friday. Barely two months after their shocking 7-1 defeat to Germany in the semi-finals of the tournament they hosted, there is a new look to the Selecao with Dunga, in his second spell in charge, hoping that fresh faces will be less affected by July’s traumatic exit. Judging from the mood on Thursday at the team’s plush hotel on Brickell Key near downtown Miami, the coach’s message of not dwelling on the past has been embraced. “Dunga told all of us that we have to hold our heads up, put the past behind us, show our ability and that we deserve to be national team players,” midfielder Oscar told Reuters. It is not easy to put the Germany defeat out of our minds, it is difficult, but we have to work and to show our value.” Indeed, there was a relaxed look about the team as they chatted with reporters even though Friday’s opponents, a Colombia team out to avenge their 2-1 loss to Brazil in the World Cup quarter-finals, are stern opposition.

AMSTERDAM — Arjen Robben’s chances of making the Netherlands line-up for their opening Euro 2016 qualifier against the Czech Republic on Tuesday are slim, new coach Guus Hiddink said. “It is looking very difficult, we haven’t had any contact with him yet,” Hiddink told reporters as the Dutch readied to take on Italy in a friendly in Bari later on Thursday before next week’s clash in Prague. Robben has an ankle injury which keeps him out of the Italy clash but the Dutch hope it might heal in time for the tricky qualifier. “He hasn’t done any training and it would be very difficult to get him into the swing of things in just a couple of days before the match against the Czechs,” Hiddink warned. However, the coach said striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who also withdrew from the squad for the Bari encounter, would not be available to play the Czechs. “He is sick, miserable and feels really bad. It has been decided he will not come for the game in Prague.” Hiddink, who takes over from Louis van Gaal, is also without injured trio Ron Vlaar, Rafael van der Vaart and Jordy Clasie.