Football: Asian World Cup boycott unlikely

football

Asian World Cup boycott unlikely

China's national coach Bob Houghton joined a chorus of criticism yesterday over a decision by Fifa to allocate Asia just four places for the next World Cup. Fifa decided earlier this month that Asia would have four spots in the World Cup finals - but two would be for the co-hosts Japan and South Korea, leaving 40 countries to compete for the remaining two. But a threatened boycott of the event was unlikely, the Englishman said. "The calls for a boycott are a sign of how enormously disappointed Asian countries and federations were," Houghton said.