Reuters Soccer Blog

The latest ruling on matches at high altitude has added yet more confusion to a story which already has taken more twists and turns than a bus travelling along an Andean road.

The saga began earlier this year with a blanket ban on matches above 2,500 metres above sea. This would have prevented Bolivia from staging matches in the traditional venue of La Paz (3,600 metres) as well as Colombia and Ecuador playing in their respective capitals of Bogota (2,700) and Quito (2,800).

Following a wave of protests, led by Bolivia President Evo Morales, FIFA later raised the limit to 3,000 metres and also made a special exemption for La Paz. The South American World Cup qualifying competition then started in September with matches in all three cities.

Earlier this month, however, FIFA made another u-turn with an out-of-the-blue ruling that banned international games in cities above 2,750 metres “without proper climatisation.”

It said: “FIFA Executive Committee agreed that, unless those involved were allowed to acclimatise, no matches in FIFA competitions would be permitted at an altitude in excess of 2,750 metres above sea level.

“Furthermore, this decision will be integrated into the regulations of all FIFA competitions with immediate effect and it was recommended that the same limit be enforced in all other international competitions.”

The South American Confederation (CSF) threw the ball back into FIFA’s court by asking for it to reconsider the ban and pointing out that it was changing the rules of the World Cup qualifiers after the competition had started.

Meanwhile, the draw for next year’s South American Libertadores Cup, which features a number of clubs based at high altitude in the Andes, went ahead in Asuncion with no official mention of who would be playing where.

Some of the Andean teams said they would be allowed to stage games in their own stadiums. Brazil’s Flamengo, on the other hand, said they would refuse to play at high altitude and insisted they had FIFA on their side.

In the midst of all the in-fighting, nobody bothered to ask FIFA to explain how long it considers necessary for the players to climatise.

Perhaps if we knew this, the matter would be easier to resolve. And while FIFA are about it, maybe they could make a similar ruling banning matches played in extreme heat, something which has become all too common at some recent World Cups.