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World Cup champ must qualify for 2006

BUSAN, South Korea (AP) -- The 2002 World Cup champion will have to qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

The executive board of soccer's governing body ruled Friday the defending champion should no longer receive an automatic spot in the next World Cup.

"We've taken quite a historic decision today," FIFA president Sepp Blatter said a day before the draw for next year's World Cup.

France won the 1998 World Cup and gained automatic entry for 2002, along with co-hosts South Korea and Japan. Previous World Cup champs always qualified automatically for the next tournament.

Blatter said the World Cup was the only major soccer competition that gave champions a free ride to the next edition. European and South American champions must qualify for their regional competitions.

"The world champion should be playing competitive matches," Blatter said. Until now, defending champions had to prepare by playing exhibition games.

Blatter said the decision would make one more slot available to continental federations.

In other developments:

-FIFA allowed referees to wear small advertising logos on the sleeves of their uniforms for all club-level competitions. Ads for alcohol, tobacco and casinos will be prohibited.

-FIFA signed a cooperation agreement with the World Anti-Doping Agency. The soccer group will follow WADA's list of banned substances but impose its own sanctions.

-Two Italian league players, Brescia's Spanish midfielder Josep Guardiola and Lazio's Dutch defender Jaap Stam, were suspended this season for testing positive for the banned steroid nandrolone.

-FIFA is considering scrapping the Confederations Cup and replacing it with the World Club Championship starting in 2003 because of a crowded calendar.

-The format of the South American qualifying tournament will be changed to reduce the number of games. In qualifying for 2002, the 10 South American teams had to play 18 games each.

-FIFA postponed a decision on compensating all 32 nations taking part in next year's World Cup.

 

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