Give Asia your players, FIFA chief Blatter urges European

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Give Asia your players, FIFA chief Blatter urges European

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Give Asia your players, FIFA chief Blatter urges European clubs


BEIJING, (AFP) - World football chief Sepp Blatter has called on European clubs to boost the sport in Asia by sending players to bolster the region's professional leagues.

Blatter, president of soccer's governing body FIFA, said Europe could play a key role in accelerating the development of football across Asia if clubs released professionals left languishing in reserve teams.

In an interview with AFP, Blatter said it was time to reverse the trend of European clubs snapping up the best players in Asia, often with an eye on exploiting lucrative foreign markets.

"Immigration should go the other way," Blatter said. "In these congested leagues in Europe where clubs have so many players, they should bring these players to new horizons where they can play and earn their living honestly."

"At the moment everything is focused on Europe, everybody wants to play in Europe," said Blatter, arguing that Asia possessed the financial muscle to make his idea a reality.

"I can understand the difficulties in Africa where there is less economic power in the different associations. But here in East Asia -- Korea, Japan and China -- there is a lot of money available so there should be exchanges.

"I'm not talking only of players who are finishing their careers but also young and established players. Take a team like AC Milan. They have about 45 players but only use around 30 of them every season.

"I cannot understand a player who is happy to sit on the bench and take the money only to play four or five times a year."

The all-pervasive influence of European football in Asia was reflected in Chinese youngsters spotted in Beijing wearing replica Barcelona shirts emblazoned with the name of Argentine star Javier Saviola.

"But just imagine if Saviola was playing in Asia!" Blatter said. "It would be great for Asians to see these sorts of players in their leagues regularly, not just coming here on tours for millions of dollars."

Blatter said he planned to discuss his idea with FIFA's executive committee but stressed that ultimately the move could only come with co-operation from Europe's clubs and players.

"We in FIFA cannot make the decision to send the players there. We cannot intervene in the economical system," Blatter said. "It would be a great gesture of solidarity. But solidarity and commerce don't always go together."

Blatter meanwhile said he had been impressed by the development of Asian football in recent years, noting the performances of Japan and South Korea at the 2002 World Cup, where Korea reached the semi-finals and Japan the last 16.

"I will be eager to see how the Asian teams perform at the World Cup in 2006 when they are not in their home countries," Blatter said, adding fierce home support had given both sides an advantage last time around.

"South Korea always had 13 players in 2002 because of their incredible spectators. They were like two extra players. Maybe Japan only had 12 players because their fans weren't quite as loud," he joked.

"It is good to say the future of football is in Asia -- but they still have a long march."

Blatter rejected the notion that the strong performances of unheralded sides in the World Cup and Euro 2004 won by Greece owed more to star players from the game's established powers being too tired.

"I don't think tiredness was the issue," Blatter said. "What we have seen in these tournaments is the confirmation of 25 years of development worldwide.

"There are no more weak teams. Everybody can beat everybody now. We saw confirmation of this in Portugal, but it was already the case in the World Cup and I expect it to be confirmed again at the 2006 finals."