No fifth berth for Asia,insists Fifa president

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has threatened to boycott the tournament to be hosted jointly by Japan and South Korea if they did not gain an extra entrant.

Fifa and the AFC have been in dispute since last December, when Fifa allocated only four places to Asia, including automatic slots for Japan and South Korea. This would leave 43 countries fighting for the remaining two spots.

At last month’s Fifa Congress in Los Angeles, Uefa offered Asia half a place via a play-off against an European team, giving the host continent the chance of five teams.

But the Asian delegates did not feel that was enough and walked out of the Congress,repeating their threat to boycott the qualifying tournament if they did not receive one more automatic place.

“The Fifa Congress should not be used to exert pressure,” Blatter told Deutschlandfunk, referring to the walkout. “A team has so far never won a match by leaving the pitch early.”

Blatter, who met AFC president Peter Velappan at the Confederations Cup earlier this month in Mexico, said he was still confident the dispute could be settled before the qualifying tournament draw in Toyko on December 7.“I am convinced that we will soon reach an agreement,” he said.