Football nations left gasping by FIFA ban on high-altitude games (7 Jun 2007 08:33 GMT)
The people of four Andean nations are in revolt, and this time it has nothing to do with poverty, American imperialism or workers? rights. Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador have been told by Fifa, football?s governing body, that they can no longer stage international matches in their capitals.
It has imposed a ban on international games being played at venues above altitudes of 2,500 metres (8,200ft), claiming that it is dangerous for footballers unaccustomed to the shortage of oxygen. Peru will also be forced to abandon plans to hold World Cup qualifiers in mountain cities.
The ban has sparked protests in the Andes, with football authorities and political leaders saying that the move was discriminatory and ?Euro-centric?. It may also trigger a boycott of the continent?s show-case event, the Copa América, which is due to kick off in Venezuela this month. Governments in each of the Andean countries affected are furious with Fifa and have called for more protests after a week of rallies against the ruling.
Many in the Andes suspect that the ban is the result of pressure from Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, which have long claimed that playing at altitude gives an unfair advantage to the home side. People accustomed to living and exercising at high altitudes produce more oxygen-carrying red blood cells than those who are from lower-lying regions.
Ecuador has qualified for the past two World Cups, thanks to its record in the thin air of Quito, which helped to offset far less impressive results away from home. Peru, which has performed dismally in World Cup qualifying in recent decades, planned to switch all its home games to the Andean fastness of Cusco in an attempt to copy the Ecuadorian strategy.
Fifa said that it ordered the ban on medical advice and to end what it said was the unfair advantage that teams from high-altitude regions had when playing against visitors from lowlying areas. Experts from the Andes dismiss Fifa?s health concerns, saying that it has provided no sound evidence that players are at risk playing at high altitude.
Opponents of the move say that playing at altitude is no worse than playing in the humidity of cities such as Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires, and that it will open the way to all sorts of challenges by teams claiming an unfair advantage.
The question of altitude has long been controversial in South American football, with players from Brazil and Argentina particularly critical of the conditions they encounter in cities such as Quito and La Paz. Bolivia plays all its World Cup qualifying games in the Hernando Siles stadium, which at 3,600 metres above sea level is the highest international football venue in the world.
Significantly, the altitude limit has been set only 260 metres above Mexico City, the venue for the World Cup finals in 1970 and 1986.
Cities on top
2,224m above sea level in Mexico City, Mexico
2,546m in Bogotá, Colombia
2,850m in Quito, Ecuador
3,399m in Cusco, Peru
3,600m in La Paz, Bolivia
source : Times Online