Libya: Israel not welcome

2004-05-15 14:37

Zurich - Libya was asked to withdraw from the vote to decide the 2010 World Cup host nation after refusing to allow Israel to play there in the event of it winning the right to organise the tournament, a member of the Fifa Executive Committee said here on Saturday.

In its bid, Libyan officials had stipulated that every nation was welcome except Israel, said the official, one of the 24 members of the committee who made the decision to award South Africa the finals.

Bidding countries have to guarantee visas to every nation in the world and when Fifa asked Libya to do so, it refused, the official added.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter said only that Libya, who had proposed co-hosting with Tunisia, had been asked to withdraw from the vote "after failing to meet all the conditions" and because Fifa inspectors had concluded that South Africa, Morocco and Egypt could all host the tournament on their own.

South Africa won the right to host the first World Cup on African soil by 14 votes to 10 with Egypt failing to score a

- SAPA