Asian Olympic boss calls for World Cup boycott
Asian Olympic boss calls for World Cup boycott
BANGKOK (AFP): The head of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has called for an Asian boycott of the football World Cup if the continent's representation at the 2002 finals is not increased.
Even though the finals are to be co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, the OCA president Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah said Asia must fight for its rights.
The sheikh, one of the top six figures in world sport, made his call in an interview with AFP ahead of an emergency meeting of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Tuesday to discuss FIFA's decision to award just four places to the continent at the 2002 finals -- but two automatically go to the co-hosts.
"I had a conversation with the AFC president Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah and with the Arabic contingent and we are going towards a boycott. Because if we accept what happened now it will happen every time," he declared.
"We will boycott the World Cup qualification if we do not get our rights," said the sheikh who is also president of the Football Federation of Kuwait.
"I said two years ago that we don't have the soldiers to fight for our interests and I was proved right. We have to be united to get our rights, otherwise we will have to boycott."
FIFA's executive committee decided earlier this month to give Asia only two places -- on top of those for Japan and South Korea -- to be contested by the rest of the confederation's 43 members.
Attack
AFC general secretary Peter Velappan has already attacked the decision saying "Asia is the loser here and it shows that FIFA has no respect for Asia at all."
Asia had three guaranteed representatives at France '98. South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia qualified directly and Iran defeated Australia in a playoff.
Velappan said Tuesday's emergency meeting would concentrate on the end of the so-called three and half places formula. "The president and the executive committee are very angry and disappointed with this decision and we will be discussing what to do next."
The sheikh said FIFA had been short-sighted in just taking into account Asia's relatively weak results from this year's finals.
"FIFA has to take into account that Asia is the second economic power in the world, it has 45 percent of the sponsor companies for the World Cup, and not to look just at the technical results of the World Cup," he said.
He added that he would expect South Korea and Japan to support any boycott vote.
"Our decision might cause some problems for the two host countries but they will be the losers otherwise. The World Cup will last only one month, but their future lies with the Asian confederation," he warned.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter had been due to visit Bangkok last week after touring South Korea and Japan to see the 2002 preparations. He called it off because of illness.
The AFC will come up with some form of action to show the international governing body that it means business.
But on top of the tub-thumping from the sheikh and Velappan, Asian soccer chiefs are already trying to figure out a compromise to reduce the insult.