FIFA Joseph Blatter calls for more places in the World Cup for Africa and Asia

"It can't be like this; the regions that supply the leading European teams with top players from their vast reservoir of talent and that make a huge contribution to the attractiveness of the top leagues [can't be] treated with such disdain at the level of the World Cup. We need a new deal; preferably sooner rather than later," stated Joseph Blatter, president of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) on 04/07/2014.

"In purely mathematical terms the Africans are at a severe disadvantage compared to their rivals. Even though the Confederation of African Football has exactly the same number of member associations as UEFA [54], it is only represented at the World Cup with five teams, whereas Europe has 13. The same applies to the Asian Football Confederation; four places at the World Cup is unfair given the number of associations [46]," continued Blatter, in his weekly editorial in FIFA Weekly, which is published by the international federation.

The four representatives of the Asian confederation all finished in the last place in their groups, without winning a single…