Confederation plans re-structure
South American shake-up
The South American Football Confederation is set to re-structure its qualifying competition for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Currently, the familiar CONMEBOL qualifying format sees the ten nations playing each other in a 18-match single group campaign. The top four qualify for the finals with the fifth facing a Play-Off against the winners of the Oceania region.
The most likely alternative would seem to be two groups of five in a round-robin tournament. Each country would play four matches with the top three in each group going forward to a final group of six. These six would therefore play nine matches in total.
The re-think has been brought about by the combination of poor economic conditions and the complaints from European clubs concerning the demands on their players.
The Confederation’s press officer Nestor Benitez commented:
“There is an agreement that these qualifiers are costly and very long.”
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