May 30, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 13, 1428

LA PAZ, May 29: Andean countries vowed on Monday to fight a ban by FIFA on high-altitude soccer matches, with Bolivian President Evo Morales saying it amounted to discrimination against mountainous countries.

The decision by world soccer's governing body to set a limit of 2,500 metres (8,200 feet) above sea level for international games is a blow to Bolivia, which enjoys the advantage of playing home World Cup qualifiers at 3,600 metres in La Paz.

“This is not only a ban on Bolivia, it's a ban on the universality of sports,” Morales told reporters after an emergency meeting with his cabinet and soccer officials in the Andean nation, which last qualified for the World Cup in 1994.

Announcing the ban on Sunday, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said the body's executive committee had decided to act after a proposal from the medical committee. He said play at such heights was not healthy or fair and distorted competition.

The FIFA decision also affects Ecuador, Colombia and Peru, and the South American soccer federation said the region must comply with the new rule.

The Andean Community of Nations, a trade bloc representing those four affected countries, issued a statement condemning the ban and called on national soccer federations across the region to lobby for it to be overturned.

“We officially call on all Latin American countries to express their solidarity with the Andean countries and to urge FIFA to rectify this measure immediately,” it said.

Leftist Morales told reporters he will send a diplomatic mission to Switzerland to press FIFA to reconsider the ban.

“We cannot allow discrimination in soccer, we cannot allow ... exclusion in the world of sports,” said Morales, a big soccer fan.

Bolivia have enjoyed famous victories over Brazil and Argentina in La Paz and were runners-up to the Brazilians when the nation hosted the Copa America in 1997.

A leading official at the South American federation said individual countries could complain about the new measure to FIFA but the region's governing body had to respect the change.

“This is a decision by soccer's highest authority and the confederation can do nothing but obey,” Francisco Figueredo, the group's executive secretary, said.

He said the measure would not stop any South American country hosting international matches because all of them have stadiums below the 2,500-metre mark, including Bolivia, which has an approved ground in low-lying Santa Cruz.

Former Argentina coach Carlos Bilardo said the ban ‘is wrong’ and suggested if it wants to be fair FIFA should also ban internationals at venues where temperatures are very high.

“It's not the same playing in Bogota, Quito or La Paz ...but it's no good playing at high temperatures (either),” Bilardo said.

Bolivian soccer authorities have complained in the past that playing in hot weather can be as dangerous as high altitudes.

FIFA's decision would also hit Ecuador, who played in the last two World Cups on the back of their performances in Quito at 2,800 metres and have not lost at home in nearly six years.

Colombia's capital Bogota lies at about 2,700 metres, although the Colombians have preferred to stage matches in the steamy Caribbean port of Barranquilla.

Peru had planned to stage home games at high altitude in the Andean city of Cuzco following their poor showing in the capital Lima, their traditional venue.—Reuters