North Africa

A FIFA inspection team has arrived in Morocco for a five-day visit, saying the country's bid file to host the 2006 World Cup was outstanding.

A Moroccan official said he was surprised by the results of a poll of sports editors showing the country was bottom of the list of the five bidding to host the 2006 World Cup finals.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) will support one of Africa's two bids for the 2006 World Cup finals after FIFA inspection visits to Morocco and South Africa.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has given Brazil a timely boost in the race to host the 2006 World Cup.

South African Sports Minister Ngconde Balfour has said his country would "comfortably earn" the right to stage the 2006 World Cup finals.

Morocco, which reaffirmed its bid to stage the 2006 World Cup finals this week by dismissing South African calls to quit the race, has despatched a delegation to Paraguay to lobby for South America's support.

Morocco, in a move to reaffirm its bid to stage the 2006 World Cup, says it has no plans to withdraw from the competition to host the finals, an official statement said.

The chief executive officer of South Africa's bid committee for the 2006 Soccer World Cup has told the South African Cabinet that he is extremly confident the country will be awarded the event, the Pan African News Agency reports.

South Africa says it is trying to persuade Morocco to quit the race to host the 2006 World Cup finals and allow it to be Africa's sole candidate.

Press reports from Nigeria say the country's sports ministry has failed to persuade players on the national soccer team to collect a t$2,500 dollars bonus for winning their match against Tunisia.

Romanian national coach Anghel Iordanescu has accused the country's soccer authorities of endangering the country's World Cup chances by denying him funds, facilities and competitive warm-up matches.

Dealers say foreign exchange trade in London, the world's busiest currency market, will slow to a trickle next Monday when England makes its debut in the World Cup.

Soccer's improving commercial image was under threat today after English soccer hooligans ran amok in Marseille on Sunday, battling Tunisians, police and local people in a series of running battles ahead of a World Cup match.

England will not be barred from the World Cup finals despite the behaviour of its hooligan fans, FIFA said on Monday.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) will send another inspection team to Zimbabwe next week to look at progress in the preparations for the hosting of the African Nations Cup finals in 2000.

FIFA and FIFPro have finally reached agreement about FIFPro's participation in the implementation of FIFA's new regulations on the international transfers of football players.