Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni believes a move to switch the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to winter to avoid searing summer temperatures would lead to a higher quality tournament.
Speaking ahead of Japan's friendly against Serbia here on Friday, the Italian tactician said, "Personally I think there would be a higher quality World Cup by moving it to January.
"Matches should be enjoyed in a pleasant environment and moving the tournament to January would be the answer."
FIFA, soccer's world governing body, took another step toward an unprecedented move of shifting the 2022 tournament to winter, when president Sepp Blatter recently told Qatari organizers that they would not be stripped of the tournament, whatever the outcome of an ongoing corruption investigation or the other controversies surrounding it.
Meanwhile, Zaccheroni said he was looking forward to seeing how Japan fares against a tough Serbian side.
"Serbia are physically, technically and mentally strong and you could consider them a force on the world stage. It will be interesting to see how we do against them," Zaccheroni said.