A decision is expected to be made next month on whether to switch the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022 from its traditional summer date (June-July) to the winter months (December - February).

The FIFA executive committee is set to meet on 3-4 October to decide on the details of the 2022 tournament, which has become a headache for the world governing body ever since it controversially awarded the competition to footballing minnow Qatar in December 2010.

After winning the bid, the Middle Eastern country’s climate was deemed too hot to host a sports tournament. During the summer months temperatures can reach 50C, resulting in calls for the event to be held in January instead.

A switch to a cooler time of the year has not proved to be a simple task for FIFA.

There was initial vociferous opposition to switching the tournament from summer to winter from European professional football leagues - especially the English Premier League. League officials said moving the World Cup dates would cause serious scheduling problems for the leagues for three successive seasons from 2020-21 to 2022-23.

Since then, however, the governing body of European football, UEFA, has approved the move. UEFA's 54 member associations gave their backing to the switch in a meeting on 19 September.

It is understood that opposition to the winter plans have also been voiced by a number of broadcasting companies who have paid for the rights to the World Cup - such as US TV giant Fox Sport.

Meanwhile, Football Federation Australia - which lost out to Qatar in the bidding process - is considering launching a lawsuit against FIFA if the tournament dates are changed.

Earlier this month FIFA president Sepp Blatter admitted that awarding the tournament to Qatar “may have been a mistake”.

• Oil-rich Qatar's national football team has never qualified for a World Cup tournament and is currently 112th on the official FIFA rankings. In its most recent competitive game - a World Cup 2014 qualifier in June - it was thrashed 1-5 by Uzbekistan.