A B C D
E F G H
Blatter neutral on 2006 World Cup venue
PARIS (AP) -- FIFA General Secretary Sepp Blatter declared himself "totally neutral" today as to the venue of the 2006 World Cup finals, but said it would be "logical" for Africa to host the event.Blatter, announcing his candidacy to run for the FIFA presidency, described the choice of a country to stage the 2006 finals as "a very controversial issue."
"Let me get to the presidency first," he joked, saying a final decision would be taken by FIFA's executive committee in 2000.
"It used to go clockwise between Europe and South America," Blatter said. "It's recently gone from America to Europe. So continuing clockwise takes us to Africa."
"That would be rational. But what's logical isn't necessarily synonymous with sport and politics," he added.
England and Germany are vying furiously for the right to stage the lucrative finals. But South Africa and Brazil have also expressed an interest. Africa is yet to host a World Cup finals.
NEXT ROUNDS: Round of 16 || Quarter-finals || Semi-finals
GROUP A: Brazil, Morocco, Norway, Scotland
GROUP B: Austria, Cameroon, Chile, Italy
GROUP C: Denmark, France, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
GROUP D: Bulgaria, Nigeria, Paraguay, Spain
GROUP E: Belgium, Holland, Mexico, South Korea
GROUP F: Germany, Iran, United States, Yugoslavia
GROUP G: Colombia, England, Romania, Tunisia
GROUP H: Argentina, Croatia, Jamaica, Japan