Football: Delay for vote on 2006

FOOTBALL'S WORLD governing body, Fifa, has postponed its vote to decide which country hosts the 2006 World Cup until July next year.

Fifa's executive committee, meeting in Los Angeles, has ruled that the vote, originally set for March 2000, would be delayed for four months to allow time for the individual congresses of each of its six confederations to consider the bids from England, Brazil, Germany, South Africa and Morocco. The bidders now face a further four months of campaigning.

Fifa sources said the proposal to delay the vote was made by Chuck Blazer, the general secretary of Concacaf, which governs the sport in North and Central America and the Caribbean. He was concerned that only two confederations, those of Africa and South America, would have held their full congresses before the scheduled vote.

n Uefa, European football's governing body, has agreed to surrender half of one of its places at the 2002 World Cup finals. A European nation will play off for it with a nation from Asia.