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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 11:29 a.m., Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Soccer: FIFA suspends ban on games at high altitude

By JOHN PYE
AP Sports Writer

SYDNEY, Australia — Soccer's governing body suspended its ban on international matches at high altitude, allowing Bolivia to host upcoming World Cup qualifiers at La Paz.

FIFA's executive committee also voted today to have the United Arab Emirates host the Club World Cup in 2009 and 2010, and selected Japan to host it in 2011 and 2012.

Mexico will host the Under-17 World Cup in 2011 and Colombia will host the Under-20 World Cup in 2011. Trinidad and Tobago will stage the 2010 Under-17 Women's World Cup if it submits remaining documentation.

In addition, the committee backed the objectives of FIFA president Sepp Blatter's plan to force clubs to field at least six players who are eligible to play for the national team of that team's country. European Union lawmakers have expressed skepticism, saying it would be illegal to prevent the free movement of players.

The Union of European Football Associations has discussed an alternate plan with a requirement for homegrown players that came up through a club's system, a proposal UEFA hopes will pass legal scrutiny.

Blatter expressed concern about attacks on immigrants in South Africa, where the World Cup will be played in 2010. The attacks left 56 people dead and forced 30,000 from their homes, South Africa Safety and Security minister Charles Ngakula said Monday.

"There was a lot of violence and death tolls. This is terrible," Blatter said.

FIFA's executive committee voted last May to ban international matches above 9,020 feet when visiting players did not have enough time to acclimatize. La Paz (11,800 feet) and Quito, Ecuador (9,285 feet) were the chief cities affected.

Bolivian president Evo Morales accused FIFA for imposing "soccer apartheid" on teams that play at high altitudes and nine nations of the South American confederation — excluding Brazil — sent a written plea to Blatter to revoke the altitude ban.

"Let us reopen the discussion," Blatter said.

As for the Club World Cup, the UAE beat out bids from Australia and Japan, which hosted the event in each of the past three years and will stage the tournament again this December.

Blatter said the resolution on his "six-plus-five" plan will be presented to the FIFA congress on Friday. It targets some Europe's richest clubs, which are stocked with foreign-born players.

"This will be more than just further talks and investigations," Blatter said. "We don't want to go to confrontation."

Restrictions on players from fellow European Union nations were declared illegal by the European Court of Justice in 1995. Blatter plans to meet with the president of the European parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, on June 5 to lobby for support.

In other developments, FIFA's executive committee voted:

—to ban Iraq from international soccer for one year unless it reinstates the national soccer association and Olympic committees it disbanded last week but remained confident the dispute will be resolved.

—to sign the latest world anti-doping code.

—approved UEFA's request that August dates for international exhibition games from 2009-13 be moved forward by one week, which likely would place them before the start of the English Premier League and German Bundesliga seasons.

—changed the dates of the 2009 Under-20 World Cup in Egypt from Sept. 25-Oct. 16.