Quito's mayor Paco Moncayo joined on Tuesday the international
protest against a measure planned by soccer governing body, the
International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA), to bar
international competitions above 2,500-meters altitude.
Speaking at a Tuesday press conference, Moncayo said that Quito
is Ecuador's national soccer team's center of operations and the
place where the nation won its two World Cup places; in 2002 and
2006.
He said he would send a letter to FIFA, saying that the decision
"is an attack on Andean cities sand on the universality principle
in football". FIFA claims to promote the universality of the
sport.
"I don't know of a single player that has had health problems or
died due to Quito's altitude," he added, echoing the words of Luis
Fernando Suarez, the manager of Ecuador's national soccer team.
He said he would also work with the mayors of other Andean
cities affected by the move, urging them to write formal letters of
complaint to FIFA president Josep Blatter, adding that they were
coordinating via internet, because their diaries made it difficult
for them to meet.
"Ecuador reached the second round of the World Cup in Germany
based on its football. Had it not been for that goal by England
mid-fielder David Beckham, we would have gone much further, and
without an altitude advantage," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency May 30, 2007)