FIFA President Sepp Blatter said Saturday he was happy with the joint hosting of the World Cup finals and hinted that it could be repeated at the 2010 event.
The president said: "FIFA is very happy to have this competition in a co-hosting situation and with a little bit of goodwill and a little bit of acceptance everywhere there are no problems in this co-hosting situation."
Blatter hinted that it might be considered again, for the 2010 event, which will take place in Africa.
He noted: "Obviously there are ideas in Africa to present bids in a co-hosting situation."
The decision on the location of the 2010 event will be made in two years' time. Blatter said that, by then, FIFA would have analyzed all the information from the current tournament and would have a better idea about the benefits and disadvantages of co-hosting.
"Witnessing this competition I don't see any big problems. Definitely it doesn't affect the quality of football," Blatter said.
The European Championships in 2000 were jointly hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands, and a number of European nations have made joint bids to host the 2008 event in between two and four countries.
Blatter also said FIFA would be looking at refereeing decisions made during the tournament. He said the problem was primarily not with the referees but with the assistant referees, or linesmen.
"We have to find out solutions on how they can better judge whether positions are offside or not," he said. "This is an important point for the future."
|
