Andean nations protest ban

Andean countries vowed to fight a ban by FIFA on high-altitude soccer matches, with Bolivian President Evo Morales saying it amounted to discrimination against mountainous countries.

The decision by world soccer's governing body to set a limit of 2,500 metres (8,200 feet) above sea level for international games is a blow to Bolivia, which enjoys the advantage of playing home World Cup qualifiers at 3,600 metres in La Paz.

"This is not only a ban on Bolivia, it's a ban on the universality of sports," Morales told reporters after an emergency meeting with his cabinet and soccer officials in the Andean nation, which last qualified for the World Cup in 1994.

Announcing the ban on Sunday, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said the body's executive committee had decided to act after a proposal from the medical committee. He said play at such heights was not healthy or fair and distorted competition.

The FIFA decision also affects Ecuador, Colombia and Peru.

The Andean Community of Nations, a trade bloc representing those four affected countries, issued a statement condemning the ban and called on national soccer federations across the region to lobby for it to be overturned.

A leading official at the South American federation said individual countries could complain about the new measure to FIFA but the region's governing body had to respect the change.

"This is a decision by soccer's highest authority and the confederation can do nothing but obey," Francisco Figueredo, the group's executive secretary, told Reuters.