October 25 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter has once again re-opened the prickly debate over World Cup slots by declaring that Africa and Asia deserve more representation and Europe and South America less.
Writing in the first edition of FIFA’s new weekly web publication, The FIFA Weekly, on how the game might look 15 years from now, Blatter pulls no punches when it comes to what he would like to see.
Currently Asian teams have four guaranteed World Cup berths, with a fifth available only via an intercontinental playoff, this time between Jordan and Uruguay. Africa has five berths.
“From a purely sporting perspective I would like to see globalisation finally taken seriously and the African and Asian countries national associations accorded the status they deserve at the FIFA World Cup,” writes Blatter.
“It cannot be that the European and South American confederations lay claim to the majority of berths at the World Cup (18 or 19 teams), because taken together they account for significantly fewer member associations (63) than Africa and Asia (100).”
Asia and Africa have long been lobbying for greater participation to reflect the size of their respective memberships and Blatter sympathised with their cause, especially Africa.
“Africa, the confederation with the most member associations (54), is woefully under-represented at the World Cup,” he wrote. “As long as this remains the case, African sides may never win an intercontinental trophy regardless of progress on the playing side. This flawed state of affairs must be rectified. At the end of the day an equal chance for all is the paramount imperative of elite sport.”
View FIFA’s new weekly web magazine at www.issuu.com/fifa
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