Brazilians and French players will be free for FA Cup final

FIFA PRESIDENT Sepp Blatter yesterday promised he will not let a celebration match between France and Brazil in May interfere with preparations for the FA Cup final — but he signalled his belief there are too many domestic games in England.

The European and world champions are playing a FIFA centennial celebration match in Paris on May 20, two days before the FA Cup final a fixture that has worried Arsenal and Manchester United who both have French and Brazilian players and have hopes of making the final.

Blatter, speaking after a FIFA executive committee meeting at Claridges in London, said clubs or players would not be subjected to disciplinary proceedings if they did not turn up for the game.

Blatter revealed that he brought up the issues of FA Cup replays and the League Cup competition at a meeting with the FA and Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore on Friday. The FIFA president says 20 clubs are too many for a top-flight league especially when there are so many other domestic demands in England.

Blatter also revealed that FIFA will sign up to the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) code on drugs in May and said that there will be no automatic two-year ban.

He added: "Everybody has the right to be assessed properly even if it's a delicate solution."

The FIFA committee also agreed a new format for the World Club Championship - the tournament that aims to pit the best club sides from each of the six continents against one other. The competition will now be run annually from December 2005.

It is set to replace the Inter-Continental Cup match between the European and South American club champions in future these two clubs will receive a bye into the semi-finals, meaning they will play a maximum of two games.