Soccer: Fifa gives Oceania's votes back - report

Reynald Temarii. Photo / Shane Wenzlick

Oceania Football Confederation president Reynald Temarii has reportedly dropped his appeal with Fifa, meaning the OFC will get to vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts.

The Guardian newspaper reports that Temarii, who was suspended by Fifa after breaching its code of ethics, will have his vote replaced by acting Oceania president David Chung.

The one-year suspension handed to OFC president - and Fifa executive member - Temarii, of Tahiti, has cost Oceania its only chance to take part in the World Cup vote.

If the newspaper report is accurate it will be a boost for England's chances of hosting the 2018 World Cup, with Oceania set to give them their support.

It will also help Australia's bid for the 2022 World Cup.

Australia's World Cup bid leader said today he believes FIFA will restore Oceania's right to use a vote promised to his country in the 2022 poll.

Frank Lowy said he hoped FIFA would decide on Monday, giving a boost to Australia's campaign three days before the 2018 and 2022 hosts are chosen.

"I understand that Oceania is going to get a vote," Lowy told The Associated Press at Australia's campaign hotel in Zurich.

"I understand that FIFA will accept the person that is representing Oceania. It requires Temarii not to lodge an appeal against the (ethics) committee decision."

The OFC has been pressing to have its voice heard at this week's all-important vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting rights.

The OFC executive met in Auckland on Saturday and it is understood they have gone back to Fifa in an attempt to have Chung, from Papua New Guinea, take Temarii's position and vote on their behalf.

Temarii was banned for one year and fined about $6500 for his part in an alleged voting sting aimed at securing votes for the United States as 2022 hosts.

At the time Temarii made it clear he would vote for Australia.

There is no provision in Fifa rules for the automatic promotion of the senior vice-president into the presidency but it may be possible depending on how the statutes are read.

A president can only be elected at a confederation's congress. That is scheduled for January, after the World Cup vote in Zurich on Friday. It appears Chung will be in Zurich in the hope he will be accorded voting rights.

There had been suggestions the OFC congress scheduled for January in Auckland might be delayed until after October next year to allow for Temarii to be handed a second four-year term. That is not the case as the rules stipulate there must be an elective congress every four years.

Temarii was elected in January 2007 and, had he not copped the ban, he was almost certain to have won a second term in January.

After Saturday's meeting in Auckland, the OFC said there will be another meeting next month, likely in Port Vila, at which the date and venue for next year's congress will be confirmed. In light of the rules, that seems set to be on January 22 in Auckland - as agreed earlier.

If Chung is elected for four years in January, Temarii's only way back to the presidency would be if Chung resigned after next October when Temarii's suspension will be over.

- NZ Herald/Herald online and AP