Arab News
MAKING A POINT: FIFA President Sepp Blatter speaks during a news conference at FIFA Club World Cup soccer tournament in Marrakech on Thursday. (AFP)
AGENCIES
Published — Friday 20 December 2013
MARRAKECH, Morocco: FIFA Oresident Sepp Blatter is disappointed with European indifference toward the Club World Cup, he said on Thursday.
The competition, featuring the club champions of each continent, arouses great interest in South America, Asia and Africa, but is barely noticed in Europe amid the torrent of pre-Christmas domestic football.
“I could understand that when we played this competition in the past years in Japan or the United Arab Emirates, that there was less interest,” Blatter told reporters.
“But now it is on Europe’s doorstep and there is not so much interest, I agree that we are disappointed.”
Blatter said he hoped the tournament, being staged in Morocco this year for the first time, would eventually be included in the international calendar to avoid clashing with European league football.
“I think there should be a little bit more attention to other competitions, but with the big leagues in Europe, you have the question of the calendar.
“They have to play every day, even if they don’t play in the league, there is the FA Cup and the League Cup, every day or every other day there is football.”
“The Club World Cup is not yet protected by the international calendar as the World Cup is,” he said.
Blatter said he was delighted by this year’s tournament, which ends on Saturday with Raja Casablanca, who qualified as champions of host nation Morocco, facing European champions Bayern Munich in the final in Marrakech.
Raja reached the final with a shock 3-1 win over South American champions Atletico Mineiro on Wednesday, stunning the roughly 10,000 fans who had made the long journey from Brazil.
“The quality of the matches we have seen, with some very good football in a remarkable ambience, this is best publicity, and the best way of getting more attention of the five big leagues,” said Blatter.
“It’s a question of solidarity,” he added. “They should also be interested in the other leagues and have a look at what is going on elsewhere.”
Vanishing spray
Referees will use the recently-developed vanishing spray at the World Cup next year to stop defensive walls creeping forward at free kicks Blatter said.
Blatter said the spray, developed in Brazil and Argentina, had received a positive reception after being used at the Club World Cup in Morocco.
“I think it’s a very good solution, some say it takes too much time and I was also quite skeptical at the beginning but… all the referees who have used the system were pleased with it,” Blatter told reporters.
When a free kick is awarded near the penalty area, the referee paces the regulatory 9.15 meters between the ball and the nearest defender and then sprays a line on the pitch to mark the correct position of the wall. The line then disappears from the pitch within a minute.
It has been used for several years in Argentina and Brazil where it is generally accepted that it has reduced the amount of arguing over where the wall should stand and prevented encroachment.
“The representative of Bayern Munich said that here they can take free kicks with the wall nine meters away, while at home it’s only five,” said Blatter. “It’s a novelty….we will start using it in the World Cup in Brazil last year.”
However, Marcello Lippi, coach of Asian champions Guangzhou Evergrande, complained after his team’s 3-0 defeat to Bayern that the referee had not been measuring the distance correctly.
“The wall was 15 meters from the ball,” said the Italian World Cup winner.
