Jordaan backs Blatter on African WCup slots

Football | South Africa

 

South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan has come out in full support of Fifa president Sepp Blatter's call for a review of the number of African and Asian slots at the World Cup.
Commenting on Blatter's remarks that he would like to see the reduction of the number of European and South American teams playing in the World Cup and instead give more places to African and Asian sides, SAFA President Dr Danny Jordaan said he supported this idea whole-heartedly.
"It is an important matter for debate but we as Safa fully support the idea. Developing economies should have a lot of say, which is why I am saying this matter must be fully researched and a proposal must be formulated."
The Blatter argued that as long as the allocation of slots was miscued, it would remain difficult for African and Asian teams to win the World Cup.


"From a purely sporting perspective, I would like to see globalisation finally taken seriously, and the African and Asian national associations accorded the status they deserve at the Fifa World Cup," Blatter wrote in his Fifa Weekly column.
"It cannot be that the European and South American confederations lay claim to the majority of the berths at the World Cup (18 or 19 teams), because taken together they account for significantly fewer member associations (63) than Africa and Asia (100).
"Africa, the confederation with the most member associations (54), is woefully under-represented at the World Cup with just five places.
As long as this remains the case, African sides may never win any intercontinental trophy, regardless of progress on the playing side. This flawed state of affairs must be rectified. At the end of the day, an equal chance for all is the paramount imperative of elite sport," concluded the Fifa president.