May 08, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 2, 1429

ZURICH, May 7: FIFA president Sepp Blatter will propose stricter rules on switching nationalities later this month to prevent World Cup finals becoming dominated by Brazilians.

The head of world soccer’s governing body said many countries, notably in Africa and Europe, had abused the current rules whereby a player can play for a country other than the one of their birth if he has lived in a country for at least two years, or has a parent or grandparent who was born there.

“I am not a forecaster but I can say that in the World Cup in 2014 half of the players could come from Brazil and we have to introduce a higher hurdle to stop this,” Blatter told reporters.

“The executive committee will propose to the congress that a player only after five years can become a football citizen of a country.”

The proposal will require at least 75 percent support at the Sydney moot on May 29, where each of FIFA’s 208 member associations who are eligible to vote have one vote each.—Reuters