Blatter opposes more teams in World Cup

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said he was against against increasing the number of teams at the 2006 World Cupfinals from 32 to 36.

“My personal wish is that we stick to the decision (of having 32 teams) we made at our(executive committee) meeting in December 2002 in Madrid,” Blatter said.

His remarks came in response to South American federation CONMEBOL,’s recommendation that an extra four teams should participate in the 2006 finals in Germany.

“The proposal will be studied and a final decision will be made at the executive committee of FIFA in May in Zurich,” added Blatter.

Franz Beckenbauer, the president of the organisation committee of the 2006 World Cup, admmitted that Germany could cope with an additional four entrants.

“We could do it,” he said.

“I’m not saying there would not be problems, but there would not be problems we could not solve. Anyway, the decision does not belong to us but to FIFA.”