More criticism of FIFA’s international ban on games at high altitude, this time from The Guardian’s Rodrigo Orihuela, who points out that the calls for reversing the decision are growing louder. The FIFA ruling bans international matches from being played at an altitude higher than 2,500 meters, a move aimed squarely at three South American countries: Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, which have never won a FIFA tournament.
After Peru said it planned to host World Cup qualifiers in the Andean city of Cuzco (3,380 meters above sea level), CONMEBOL powerhouses Brazil and Argentina lobbied to have matches at high altitude banned altogether, citing the danger to players. Ecuador and Bolivia, meanwhile, have been hosting qualifiers at their respective capitals, Quito (2,800 meters) and La Paz (3,800 meters), without incident-other than shortness of breath-for decades. It’s no coincidence the initiative was headed by Brazilian and Argentine officials — both countries have a terrible record playing at altitude. Argentina, for example, was winless in La Paz between 1973 and 2005.
In Bolivia, a country deeply divided by the politics of President Evo Morales, FIFA’s move has become a matter of state, namely because it’s the only issue that both the right and the left can agree on. Morales has also enlisted the support of Chile President Michele Bachelet and the Organization of American States in his campaign to overturn the decision. He’s called on his supporters to send 1 million letters of complaint to FIFA’s head office in Geneva.