FIFA nixes World Cup expansion

Oceania loses automatic berth; South American gains

PARIS (AP) -- The 2006 World Cup will remain at 32 teams, with FIFA stripping Oceania of its guaranteed berth and giving South America the chance to send a fifth team to the tournament through a playoff.

FIFA's executive committee made the decision Saturday, turning aside a proposal by South America to increase the field by four nations to 36. FIFA also said the field will not be increased for the 2010 tournament.

"Things are so clear and simple with 32 teams," FIFA president Sepp Blatter said. "Give two more here, two more there, sounds easy."

He said a 36-nation field was impractical "when you have to consider the details, the practical organization."

The vote was 22-1, with Oceania opposing the move and Blatter abstaining. The executive committee voted Dec. 17 to give Oceania a guaranteed spot.

Ahongalu Fusimalohi of Tonga, Oceania's only member of the executive committee, said FIFA had made his region into a "laughingstock."

"We're being pushed around as if we never did exist," he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "If it was so right seven months ago, how can it be so wrong seven months later? It's really a decision not based on FIFA's motto of fair play, and it's not for the good of the game. It was a decision made on politics and the satisfaction of the bigger nations. It saddens me that this is how we're seen in the world."

Fusimalohi walked out of the meeting in protest along with Australia's Basil Scarsella, the president of the Oceania Football Confederation. Scarsella is a non-voting observer of the executive committee.

"It's a politically-driven decision that's got nothing to do with common sense or the development of football," Scarsella said,

In the past, the winner of Oceania qualifying always met a team from another continent in a home-and-home playoff, and no team from Oceania has played in the World Cup since New Zealand in 1982. In the last tournament, Australia lost the playoff 3-1 to Uruguay, the No. 5 team in South American qualifying. . In the last tournament, Australia lost the playoff 3-1 to Uruguay, the No. 5 team in South American qualifying.

South America had been angered by December's allocation, which cut it to four berths.

"We came here to defend South America's rights, and we have been given back our half-slot that was taken away from us," said Paraguay's Nicolas Leoz, an executive committee member and the president of South America's governing body.

"The decision shows quality rules," said Argentina's Julio Grondona, also an executive committee member.

FIFA did not determine how the playoff system for the 2006 World Cup would work.

"There are a number of options available to us," Blatter said.

Scarsella said Oceania would ask that instead of a simple home-and-away series, the playoff be combined with the one already scheduled between the No. 4 team from the North and Central American and Caribbean region and the No. 5 team from Asia.

Batter said the decision to strip Oceania of its guaranteed berth was made partly because of infighting among officials of Soccer Australia and the "poor performance" of New Zealand in the Confederations Cup. New Zealand, the Oceania champion, went 0-3 and was outscored 11-1.

"If FIFA had taken the decision for the distribution for slots for the 2006 World Cup today, Oceania would not have received a full slot," Blatter said.

Oceania already had agreed to sponsorship deals based on the berth, Fusimalohi said. The executive committee's reasoning didn't persuade them to agree to the change.

"I think they are excuses, and not reasons, and certainly don't justify what is a politically driven decision," Scarsella said.

Fusimalohi said the region had few options.

"We can't do much because we have everybody ganging up on us," he said. "We asked them to leave it as it is. Oceania has one position. I'm sure the world can sort the other 31 among themselves rather than taking away what they've already given us."

Under the allotment approved by the executive committee in December, Europe was awarded 14 spots, including host Germany, a drop from 15 at the 2002 tournament.

Africa remained at five teams, and Asia stayed at four teams with the chance to get another berth in a playoff. North and Central America and the Caribbean, which had three spots, was given the chance for a fourth through a playoff with the No. 5 Asian team.

 

Related information

Stories

Now more than ever FIFA must curtail expansion World Cup most likely to stay at 32 teams FIFA OKs team switches, women's cup sites

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video