(CNN) -- The prospect of a winter World Cup in 2022 looks set to become a reality after Europe's football associations voted against holding the tournament in the Qatari summer.
All 54 member associations of UEFA, Europe's governing body, backed the decision at the meeting in Croatia Thursday.
"They all agreed that this competition could not take place in the heat of Qatar in the summer," FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce told CNN.
"At the end of the day common sense has to prevail here and I'm glad at long last common sense has prevailed," he added.
FIFA, the game's world governing body, has been considering the option of moving the tournament because of fears that players and fans would be adversely affected by the searing heat, which can reach 122 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer.
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FIFA President Sepp Blatter recently stated that it would not be feasible to hold a summer World Cup in Qatar and will make a decision on the timing of the tournament at the Executive Committee meeting in Zurich, Switzerland on October 3 and 4.
A winter World Cup would cause chaos with the European domestic season with clubs fearing they could lose out financially.
"What has to happen now is that the people who are involved, including the people from Qatar, they have to sit down and work out a situation that's going to cause (as) minimum (a) disruption that can possibly be made to football," said Boyce. "Not only in Europe but throughout the world.
"There are nine years to plan the World Cup and surely with common sense this can be overcome."
UEFA President Michel Platini, who voted for Qatar, believes a move to January or February would suit his members.
"I was very happy to learn that FIFA president Joseph Blatter wants to move the 2022 World Cup to the winter, something I've long advocated," the Frenchman told the media last month.
Platini also rejected claims by the chief executive of the English Premier League, Richard Scudamore, who claimed switching the World Cup was "well nigh impossible," citing disruption to the calendar and the impact on lucrative television deals.
He added: "For 150 years, England has imposed its calendar and we've respected it.
"So for once, for one month, England could respect another calendar."
The announcement by FIFA in 2010 that Qatar would host the 2022 World Cup finals has brought greater exposure for the tiny emirate.
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FIFA's decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar has led to huge criticism with Australian football chiefs threatening legal action.
Australia, which lost out to Qatar along with South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, believes it should be compensated if the World Cup is held in the winter rather than the summer.
Earlier this week, the Football Federation of Australia laid out its case which it expects FIFA's Executive Committee to examine.
"An in-principle decision that just and fair compensation should be paid to those nations that invested many millions, and national prestige, in bidding for a summer event," it said.
"If there is consensus within the Ex-Co that a change in date should be considered, then a transparent process should be established to examine the scheduling implications for all leagues and a method developed for agreeing appropriate compensation for those affected."
That case is unlikely to succeed according to a FIFA spokesperson, despite the pressure from the Australian FA.
A FIFA spokesperson told CNN: "As part of the bidding documents all bidders, including the FA Australia, accepted that the final decision regarding the format and dates of the staging of the FIFA World Cup and FIFA though initially expected to be in June/July, remains subject to the final decision of the FIFA Organizing Committee.
"There is no ground for any speculations."
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In particular the plight of the country's migrant workers, who make up 90 per cent of Qatar's population, has been highlighted by the International Trade Union Confederation. The ITUC has called for FIFA to strip Qatar of the 2022 World Cup unless it significantly improves its record on worker rights.
The ITUC points to Qatar's system of sponsorship which ties workers to employers and has been abused in the past. They also point to the high number of worker deaths and the conditions that many find themselves in. Temperatures on building sites in the summer months can hit 50 degree Celcius.
Qatar's economy has boomed since it started exporting liquefied natural gas in 1997 -- only Luxembourg has a higher gross domestic product per capita. But the 2022 World Cup has sparked a construction boom in a race to ready Qatar's infrastructure for the tournament.
Qatar's ambitious plans include building brand new, state of the art stadiums that would rival any in the world.
To combat the intense desert heat in the summer, each stadium would be equipped with zero carbon cooling technology that would cool the pitch and the stands.
But costs have spiraled and the technology has yet to be successfully deployed in full. Qatar's 2022 World Cup organizing committee recently requested that the number of new stadiums it builds be reduced to eight or nine from the currently planned 12.
The Qataris have also been busy investing in football abroad. The Qatar Investment Authority bought a majority shareholding in French football club Paris Saint-Germain in May 2011, immediately making it one of the richest teams in Europe. Ex-Milan and Inter coach Leonardo, center, was appointed director of football, while Carlo Ancelotti (left) is now coach.
Qatar has its own 12-team top division, with the leading four clubs at the end of the season going into the Qatar Crown Prince Cup. Football is the most popular sport in the kingdom, with nearly 700,000 attending matches in any one season.
Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nassar Al-Thani (left), a member of the Qatari royal family, bought Spanish club Malaga for €36 million ($48 million) in June 2010. The investment brought with it a place in this season's UEFA Champions League. Malaga went on to reach the quarterfinals.
Al Sadd's victory in the 2011 Asian Champions League final vindicated Qatar's decision to plough money into its coaching set-up rather than splash out on top overseas names. Just five of Al Sadd's playing roster were non-Qatari nationals.
Mohammed bin Hammam, Qatar's former high-ranking member of FIFA's executive committee as president of the Asian Football Confederation, was banned from football after being found guilty of trying to bribe delegates ahead of the 2011 presidential election in which he was to be Sepp Blatter's only opponent.
The issue of how migrant workers are treated has long been a hot topic in the Gulf. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain have all been criticized in the past for their poor treatment of guest workers. But the 2022 World Cup has focused attention on Qatar. Here one Indian worker proudly shows his ticket for a match at the 2011 Asian Cup finals, hosted in Doha.
Thousands of Indian workers were given the day off by their employers and given free tickets to watch India play at the tournament, even though most were ardent cricket fans. Many spoke of their relief at working in Doha, rather than any of the other Gulf cities near by.
Grieving relatives of Ecuador football star Christian Benitez are at Mariscal Sucre Airport in Quito as his body arrives home.
A motorcade carries the coffin of Ecuador football star Christian Benitez through the capital Quito.
Christian Benitez's wife Liseth Chala accompanied his body on its flight from Qatar to Ecuador where he will be laid to rest.
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