| | TOKYO -- Brazil will not be suspended from
the next World Cup even if found guilty of fielding over-age
players in a youth tournament, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said
on Tuesday.
Blatter, speaking at a news conference hours before the
preliminary draw for the 2002 World Cup, said Brazil would not
suffer the fate of Mexico, suspended by FIFA in the past from
all international football for using over-age players.
"I can tell you definitely that Brazil will not be
suspended from the World Cup whatever the outcome of the
investigation," he said.
Brazil, the only country to have taken part in all 16
previous World Cups, is facing a FIFA investigation following
allegations that the documents of three players who appeared in
the South American under-17 championship last year were
falsified.
Blatter said a FIFA rule change stipulated that teams could
only be sanctioned in the same age group in which an offence was
committed. Brazil could thus be suspended only from under-17
tournaments, he added.
He said Ecuador were also being investigated over similar
allegations. Like Brazil, they could not be banned from the
World Cup.
Mexico was suspended from international football for two
years for using over-age players and missed the 1990 World Cup
as a result.
Blatter made it clear at his news conference that he still backed
South Africa as host for the 2006 World Cup finals. Blatter, who was elected FIFA president last year on a
platform of support for the South African bid, said he had not
changed his view since.
South Africa is one of five candidates. The others are
Brazil, England, Germany and Morocco.
FIFA's 24-strong executive committee will select the venue
in July, and Blatter said he would not express opinions on the
candidates while the campaign was under way.
"I should remain neutral but I haven't changed my mind,"
he said.
He also explained the host would be chosen by a majority
vote of the executive committee at a meeting in Zurich on July 5 and 6. He
said if no candidate received an absolute majority the country
with the least votes would be eliminated and there would be
further rounds of voting until a clear winner emerged.
Blatter said he was still in favor of the World Cup being
staged every two years rather than every four years at present,
but that any change could not be made until after the
international soccer calendar was completely harmonized, which
FIFA hoped to achieve by 2004.
He said he expected FIFA's World Club Championship, being
staged for the first time next month in Brazil, to become a
two-yearly event, alternating with the Confederations Cup, a
tournament for winners of continental championships.
Blatter said FIFA was discussing with Japan and South Korea
the possibility of staging the next Confederations Cup in those
countries in June 2001, using them as a test for the World Cup
finals the following year.
FIFA's Women's World Cup, next scheduled for 2003, has been
brought forward to 2002 as part of a campaign to promote the
women's game, Blatter said.
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