Prove it

Asia must earn extra World Cup berths, says Blatter

TOKYO (Reuters) -- Asian countries must prove they deserve an extra World Cup place in the future by doing well at this summer's finals in South Korea and Japan, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said Wednesday.

Blatter also revealed he was working on getting an automatic World Cup entry slot for Oceania, dominated by Australia, which has not qualified for the finals since 1974.

In addition to the co-hosts, Asia will be represented in 2002 by Saudi Arabia and China at the finals. Iran lost out to Ireland in a two-leg playoff last November.

"Much is expected of the Asian teams, who are playing at home. How they do will influence the allocation of places for the 2006 World Cup in Germany," said Blatter.

He indicated, however, that Oceania could be awarded the extra spot available, after FIFA announced that the 2002 champion would have to qualify for 2006 World Cup.

"Oceania has no (automatic) entry into the World Cup. It should have entry and I will work on it," said Blatter.

"If Asia or Africa want another place they will have to work on the field of play and on the political side to find a strong argument for asking for an extra slot."

Asia had four teams at the 1998 World Cup in France after Iran qualified at the expense of Australia following a two-leg playoff.

Australia also lost out 3-1 on aggregate to Uruguay last November and went out in playoffs against Scotland in 1986 and in 1994 at the hands of Diego Maradona's Argentina.

Africa will be represented by Cameroon, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia and Senegal this summer.

European teams take up 15 of the 32 places at the 2002 World Cup, with five from South America and three more from the CONCACAF federation.

While Blatter stressed the need for fairness, however, he insisted that FIFA did not want to see the quality of the World Cup diluted for the sake of political correctness.

Right balance

"It is not easy to find the right balance, but don't forget the World Cup must be a quality competition," he said.

Asked about the current state of World Cup preparations in South Korea and Japan, Blatter called the organization "perfect" and backed both countries to guarantee the safety of players, officials and fans.

"I have no doubt the security will be of the highest possible level. They will do it because they know how to do it," he said.

"Japan is an island and has dealt with all sorts of threats in the past and there are still 30-40,000 U.S. troops in Korea."

Blatter also played down concerns that U.S. President George Bush's classification of North Korea as a member of an axis of evil has heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

"North Korea is a good standing member of FIFA and I have been invited to go to North Korea and will go there in the second week of May."

Blatter, who will be seeking a second four-year term as FIFA president in May, said that co-hosting could return at the 2010 World Cup, already promised to Africa.

"The door for future co-hosting is still open, but we first need to evaluate the results from the first experience of co-hosting a World Cup," he said.

Blatter also said he would take steps to clamp down on the private auctioning of World Cup tickets over the Internet.

"It is the first time that I have faced this problem but I will try to put a stop to this black market," he said.

But one thing FIFA can't control is the rising price of tickets, Blatter said.

"Prices are going up because the sport is becoming more popular and the World Cup is being played in a new region. The price structure (of tickets) has been made by the local organizing committees and FIFA has accepted their prices," he said.

One issue of concern for FIFA is KirchMedia, the film and television production arm of the Kirch Group. Kirch, which holds the television rights for the World Cup, has been struggling to avoid being broken up to pay off billions of euros of debt.

"If KirchMedia goes into bankruptcy, we have founded FIFA Media Ltd.," said Blatter, adding that FIFA is already guaranteed payment from KirchMedia's creditors.

FIFA Media would assume the television rights, and "production of all 64 matches is ensured even in the worst case scenario," Blatter said.

 

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.