2002 W. Cup places allotted, two for Asia

2002 W. Cup places allotted, two for Asia

ZURICH (AP): FIFA's executive committee on Friday allocated the 32 places for the 2002 World Cup finals, leaving Asian nations to fight for two slots.

With France automatically qualified as champion, and Japan and South Korea as co-hosts, the world governing body was left with one less qualifying place overall than in this year's tournament.

FIFA decided Asia should have four nations in the finals, including the two already qualified.

"The representatives of Asia were not too happy," FIFA President Sepp Blatter told reporters.

But, he added, Asia effectively has more slots than in 1998, when it qualified three nations, with Iran picking up a fourth slot in a playoff against Australia, the top qualifier from Oceania.

For the next World Cup, the leading contender from Oceania will face a tough two-leg playoff against a South American team.

That decision followed a draw between Europe and South America, which were the only two regions prepared to take part in the playoff.

Europe retains 14 places in the 2002 World Cup, with an additional slot for reigning champion France. The French this year automatically qualified as hosts.

Africa and CONCACAF - covering North and Central America and the Caribbean - will keep the five and three places they respectively held this year.

South America has four qualifying places in addition to the slot it must fight for with Oceania. This year, it had four qualifiers in addition to reigning champion Brazil.

The 2002 World Cup will be the first held in Asia and the first to be shared between two hosts.

Following his visit this week to South Korea, Blatter restated his willingness to consider allowing North Korea to host "one, two or three" games of the finals out of South Korea's allocation.

But he again insisted that it is up to the countries' politicians to make the first move.

"We do not mingle with political affairs but we're open to any kind of dialogue," Blatter said.

FIFA is "open to the idea" and the governing Executive Committee "immediately supported this," he added.

The committee also agreed that the 64-match tournament can be held within 30 days, between June 1-30, 2002.

But "the decision has to be taken by the organizing committee," Blatter stressed.

That schedule would avoid teams having to wait several days between matches, he said.