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The decision of the FIFA task force to recommend a November / December World Cup, with a potential final two days before Christmas Day is a classic case of powerful Drivers leading to decision making.

FIFA  took the decision to host the World Cup in Qatar some time ago, and not surprisingly,  has realised that playing the competition in the usual time of the year, early summer, is too dangerous to the health of the players.

Leaving aside the merits (or otherwise) of breaking with tradition, the disruption this timing will cause is extraordinary. 50 domestic leagues will need to be re-arranged. Champions League schedules will need to change. TV contracts running to billions of dollars will need to be re-negotiated. And then there is the  issue of how hundreds of thousands of fans are going to be able to travel home days before Christmas, one of the busiest times of the year for airports and airlines. That’s a lot of pain.

Many people have said that the obvious solution was to find a venue that can host the World Cup at the traditional time of year, such as Australia, and all this disruption goes away.

In reality, FIFA is prepared to go through all of this pain, disruption and potential cost because its Drivers are so strong. The stated FIFA Driver is to take football to all parts of the world, which in this case means the Middle East. Others have suggested other Drivers are play.

What can we learn from this? At Gazing we work with clients to help them truly understand their clients’ Drivers. If you really understand your customers’ Drivers you are much better placed to get alongside them and help them find solutions that work for them.