FIFA President Sepp Blatter "is opposed to proposals to expand the number of teams at the World Cup and would like to keep the number of participants to 32 if he is re-elected," according to Brian Homewood of REUTERS. He "also suggested playing more intercontinental playoffs to resolve the discussion about how many places should be awarded to each region, and that a continent which hosts the World Cup should wait at least 12 years before staging it again." Blatter "is standing for a fifth mandate as FIFA president on May 29" and two of his three challengers, former Portugal forward Luís Figo and Dutch FA President Michael van Praag, want to "expand the World Cup to 48 and 40 teams respectively." FIFA will hold an ExCo meeting on the day after the presidential election "to decide how to distribute places at the World Cup." At the 2014 World Cup, Europe "had 13 places, Africa 5, South America 4.5, CONCACAF 3.5, Asia 4.5, Oceania 0.5 and Brazil qualified as hosts." A "half place" means a slot in a two-leg playoff against a team from another continent. There were two such ties last time, pitting Uruguay against Jordan and Mexico against New Zealand, but Blatter implied that more "half places" could be used (REUTERS, 5/15). SKY SPORTS' Bryan Swanson wrote Blatter "has written to every association in world football, two weeks before the presidential election." However, the governing body insists the letter to 209 associations was "routine" and not part of an election campaign. The letter, published by Blatter, praises the "spirit of solidarity" after the FIFA president attended five confederation congresses. Blatter wrote, "Football is more than just a simple game. It gives hope, it unites people and it builds bridges, even in difficult situations." Blatter acknowledged there is "still work to be done in various areas," and highlighted that FIFA needs to "Continue to invest in education and to promote women’s football, step up anti-racism and anti-discrimination efforts, protect the health of players and fight against match-fixing" (SKY SPORTS, 5/15).
SPORT AND POLITICS: In a separate piece, Homewood wrote Blatter "is worried that a dangerous precedent will be set if Palestine goes ahead and asks for a vote to suspend Israel" at the annual FIFA Congress on May 29. The Palestine FA "accused Israel of hampering its activities and restricting the movement of players between the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank." Israel "cites security concerns for the restrictions it imposes and the Israeli FA has argued that it has no control over security forces." FIFA "has been trying to broker a settlement for two years and Blatter confirmed that he would travel to the region again next week." Blatter said that if the Palestine proposal was approved, "other nations could use football to air political grievances." Blatter: "This could open the doors, where would we go? We want to be in sport and not in politics, we could set a very dangerous precedent." But Blatter said that "he was optimistic of finding a last-ditch compromise." Blatter: "I'm hopeful and positive that, at the end of the day, there might be a solution before the Congress" (REUTERS, 5/15).
