KEY POINTS:
Fifa boss Sepp Blatter could cop some flak on his whistle-stop visit to Papua New Guinea next week.
After missing the Oceania Football Confederation's 40th birthday bash in Tahiti in November, Blatter will be on hand to meet OFC executive members at Friday's congress in Port Moresby.
He
is certain to face a please-explain over his "professional teams only" stance for future Fifa Club World Cups after pointing the finger at "amateur" Auckland City during last month's club championship in Japan.
With Fifa presidential elections looming, Blatter will be keen to keep the 11 OFC countries onside but, as OFC secretary-general Tai Nicholas pointed out yesterday, Blatter alone cannot make such decisions.
"It is a complicated issue," said Nicholas. "Every other Fifa tournament gives the host country an automatic spot. The Japanese argue that Toyota, the Club World Cup sponsors, are not getting the support they deserve because Japan is not guaranteed a team at the tournament.
"The argument against handing a J-League team a place is that they might not be - and this is often the case - the Asian Cup champions and as such have no right to play in a tournament which is for the top club sides from Fifa's six confederations."
There is an argument that the New Zealand Knights, as the only fully-professional team in Oceania, should be given the spot, thus appeasing Blatter.
"We will leave any talk about that to New Zealand Soccer," said Nicholas. "It is a very sensitive issue. I'm sure the clubs playing the New Zealand Football Championship would not want a bar of that. As NZ Soccer chief executive, Graham Seatter has to find a solution.
"We understand the clubs' feelings as the world championship remains their only incentive. We also have to consider the reaction of the island nations who play their way through to the six-team O-League in the hope of getting to Japan.
"We would also need to check the Knights' status with Fifa because they are now playing in what is ostensibly an Asian competition."
There have been suggestions that the O-League winner should play the top Japanese club to find the sixth team but that would find no support from NZFC clubs chasing the US$1 million ($1.4 million) guarantee for making the Club World Cup.
Nicholas said the OFC will be insisting it retain direct entry. He expects a decision on the format for December's club championship to be drawn up at the Fifa executive meeting in March.
"The winner of our O-League which starts next week and will be over by April, should be our representative in Japan," said Nicolas. "We will back our stance by saying that Auckland City's 2-0 loss to African champions Al Ahly is by no means a thrashing and suggesting that perhaps the professional teams did not perform as well as they should have against an amateur team."
The NZFC clubs, who met in Auckland this week to discuss several issues, have yet to make a statement on their position but expect to do so next week.
They will point out that taking away the chance to play in the O-League, and subsequently the opportunity to go one further, would severely harm the NZFC's standing as it does not offer any prizemoney. It would also deny the players the chance to play on the world stage.
The clubs are also awaiting a report from NZ Soccer on the future of the NZFC including the number of teams and sponsorship arrangements - before signing agreements (licences) for the next three years.
