Bird flu may hit World Cup - Blatter
Wednesday March 01 2006
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The World Cup this summer could be disrupted if bird flu starts being passed between people, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has warned.
Infected birds have been found in Germany, where the tournament takes place from June 9, and a cat has tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the disease - making it the first infected mammal in the European Union.
Blatter, asked if bird flu could threaten the tournament, told German newspaper Bild: "At the moment, no, but if bird flu developed into something like the plague or cholera, if it´s a case of people infecting people, then the government would have to take a decision. We would have to respect that. That is clear."
Meanwhile, Blatter admits the deadline for World Cup squad selection could be pushed back following objections from Sven-Goran Eriksson and Jurgen Klinsmann.
The England and Germany managers have called for FIFA to allow national teams extra time to complete their plans for the finals. Eriksson claims he also has the backing of Holland boss Marco van Basten.
If there is no change from FIFA, Eriksson will have to name his 23-man party on May 15, more than three weeks before England´s opening game against Paraguay.
The date also falls before the Champions League final and England´s warm-up games against Hungary and Jamaica.
Managers want to delay their final selection until the start of June and plan to discuss the problem at a FIFA workshop in Dusseldorf, Germany this month.
Blatter added: "That is not completely ruled out. If that is now officially stated, then the FIFA organisation committee can debate it again in mid-March."
