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Africa row with Asia over football vote gets worse

By Paul Martin Cainer in Zurich, editor-in-chief of Sport Africa and rediff.com's Southern Africa correspondent.

Asians have reacted with shock and surprise to the African decision to cut its special relationship with Asian soccer, and African resentment against Asia over the World Cup 2006 vote is getting worse.

Last Friday the African Football Confederation said it had ended Afro-Asian cooperation due to a "lack of support" from Asian members of FIFA's Executive Committee.

The four Asian FIFA executive members backed Germany in the July 6 vote.

"We're sad but we're not really suffering any serious handicap," said Peter Velappan, secretary-general of the Asian Football Confederation. "It was very unexpected. It really shocked us."

FIFA said it had not been officially informed of the African move. "I think this is now digested," FIFA President Sepp Blatter said when asked at a press conference on saturday, referring to the ill-feeling between the two.

Some have speculated that Asia's support for Germany was retaliation for the refusal of Blatter, who supported South Africa's bid, to push for a fifth guaranteed Asian berth in the 2002 World Cup.

Most African delegates to FIFA believe that the key reason was economic: Germany has far stronger trade ties with Asia than South Africa does. New German business contracts 'happened' to coincide with the vote last month in Zurich.

However, the African Football Confederation said that it informed Asian soccer officials at a meeting on Thursday it was ending cooperation between the two confederations over championships and exchanges of officials "as a result of the lack of support by the Asian FIFA Executive Committee members in matters involving African interests within FIFA."

Blatter briefly thanked South Africa for withdrawing its attempts to take the 2006 World Cup vote to arbitration, a bid rejected on Thursday by FIFA.

South Africa then drew up legal documents for a civil suit to be filed in Zurich, but dropped the plan on Friday after consultations with FIFA and African confederation officials.

The Congress backed proposals to set up a soccer arbitration tribunal, which will prevent future disputes being taken to civil court. The plan now needs the green light from Swiss legal authorities before it can go ahead.

Delegates approved a review of the FIFA statutes by 2004, prompting four Caribbean federations to withdraw their proposal to end the situation under which one FIFA vice president has traditionally been held by one of the four British associations.

Australia withdrew a proposal for the single Oceania representative on the FIFA Executive Committee to be made a vice president.

At this Congress, "we had to show that ... everything is back to normal," Blatter said. "I am convinced that we have unity in the family of football."

But more trouble is brewing over the 2001 Confederations Cup, he conceded. Japan is resisting the idea of hosting the eight-team tournament, which it was awarded along with South Korea Thursday as a preparation for the co-hosted 2002 World Cup.

Saturday's meeting saw FIFA approve Bhutan as its 204th member association. All except North Korea attended the session.