Soccer: Fifa rolls up the red carpet

By Terry Maddaford

Determined not to become entangled in an Olympic-style wrangle over the allocation of future World Cup venues, Fifa bosses have ordered no-frills visits to England for this year's FA Cup final.

Oceania Confederation president Charlie Dempsey and his wife, Annie, have been invited to a lunch hosted by Prince Charles at Highgrove and Dempsey to dinner at No 10 Downing St, hosted by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, on the eve of the May 22 final.

In the past Dempsey, his wife and the other five Confederation presidents would receive the "full-on" treatment - met on the tarmac at Heathrow Airport, whisked away by limousine and wined and dined in style.

But not this time. "We have been reminded in very clear terms by Fifa that we can accept no more than food, accommodation and internal travel," said Dempsey.

"Last year we were given the VIP treatment. This time we have to pay our air fares to England and make our own arrangements."

England and Germany are front-runners in the race to host the 2006 World Cup and Fifa president Sepp Blatter is determined there will be no room for a bribery and corruption scandal.

"Fifa wants to be seen as a `pure body' with none of the taints the International Olympic Committee are wrestling with," said Dempsey.

Meanwhile, Dempsey's bid to get automatic World Cup entry for the Oceania winner has been deferred.

The qualifying route for the 32 teams at the 2002 World Cup was discussed at the Fifa executive meeting but the matter was put on hold and will be discussed later.

"The Asians are also keen to make further submissions to have their allocation reconsidered but I got the very strong feeling that Europe and South America are not going to give anything away," said Dempsey.

The matter will almost certainly engender some lively discussion at the Fifa congress to be held in Los Angeles in July - at the time of the Women's World Cup - to which each of the 203 member nations have been invited to send three representatives, whose costs will be paid by Fifa.