LJUBLJANA (AFP) ) - International Ski Federation (FIS) chief Gian Franco Kasper insisted on Tuesday that he had growing concerns about switching the 2022 football World Cup to a date which could see it overshadow the Winter Olympics that year.

Speculation is continuing that Fifa, football's world governing body, will eventually reschedule the tournament due to high summer temperatures in Qatar, which will host the tournament.

"We have big fears, if the football World Cup takes place in January, or close to the Winter Games. It would be really bad for us," Kasper told German agency SID, an AFP subsidiary.

"It would also be really bad for sport, as much for winter sports as football to have two major events more or less at the same time."

If Fifa did organise a World Cup in the winter Kasper said, the FIS would favour it taking place in November and December.

"That would affect us less," he said, adding that he hoped "Fifa would take some account" of its fears.

Fifa is currently examining the potential impact a change in the traditional calendar date for the World Cup would have. A decision has been pushed back until after the 2014 World Cup.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has suggested a November kick-off for the 2022 tournament, with Uefa president Michel Platini preferring January, a month before the 2022 Winter Olympics.