By Mark Gleeson
JOHANNESBURG, April 15 (Reuters) - The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has made a formal appeal to FIFA, and to the presidents of the five other soccer confederations, for the 2006 World Cup finals to be awarded to Africa.
"In the spirit of the principle of rotation, which saw the USA host the finals in 1994, Europe in 1998 and Asia to host the next finals in 2002, it is only fair that the 2006 finals go to Africa," CAF said in a statement on Thursday. "For the 2002 edition, in a stand of solidarity and mutual respect, all the confederations backed Asia as a sole candidate to host the World Cup finals through the bids of Japan and Korea.
"Given that several African countries already fulfil the conditions required for the organisation of the World Cup it would be fair to have the 2006 edition held in Africa." Five African countries are in the race to host the 2006 finals, along with England, Germany and Brazil. CAF has consistenly refused to back a single candidate from Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa, saying it would reserve any decision until after the April 30 deadline for the submission of bid documents to FIFA.
It is expected that several of the African candidates will withdraw from the contest at the end of the month. The 2006 World Cup hosts will be decided by FIFA next March. FIFA president Sepp Blatter has consistently backed an African bid to win the vote to stage the finals -- although he has always qualified his intent, saying the finals should only be held on the continent if tough conditions on matters like telecommunications and safety can be met.
