32-team World Cup format intact for Qatar 2022 - Blatter

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Saturday after talks between football chiefs the 2022 World Cup will remain a 32 team competition with no change to the share between the regional confederations.

Europe and South America had feared an attempt to cut their places, but Blatter said: "there is no change."

The decision taken by FIFA's executive committee means that Europe will still have 13 places at the Qatar tournament and Africa five.

Asia and South America each get four places and a chance at a playoff. North and Central America get three places and a playoff chance while the Oceania winner enters a playoff.

Qatar will qualify automatically as the hosts.

UEFA chief Michel Platini had said ahead of the meeting that remaining at 13 places was a "red line" for the European confederation.

Prince Ali bin al Hussein, who challenged Blatter for the FIFA presidency, had proposed increasing the number of teams.

But Blatter said on Friday that the World Cup should "not be touched."

Protesters says no to sex tourism in Ukraine

Police arrested several Ukrainian feminist activists for staging a topless protest as UEFA chief Michel Platini visited Kiev to check on preparations for the Euro 2012 football championships.
Four activists from FEMEN were arrested after stripping down to their waists and exposing their breasts outside Kiev's main stadium to draw attention to their campaign against sex tourism in Ukraine.
"FEMEN demands that UEFA initiates a educational programme for football fans (who will travel to Ukraine) about the inadmissibility of sex tourism and the financing of sex tourism," it said in a statement.
Feminists maintain that President Viktor Yanukovych did nothing to help its campaign against sex tourism when he said this year that foreigners should visit Ukraine in spring to see its scantily-clad "beautiful girls."

Platini, who arrived later at the stadium and did not encounter the naked protestors, expressed satisfaction with Ukraine's efforts ahead of the championships which are being jointly hosted with Poland.
"We are completely reassured and we are awaiting a great Euro 2012 here," he said. "Bravo to all those who have helped building the stadiums, airports," Platini added.
Platini, who had earlier visited other Ukrainian host cities Kharkiv, Donetsk and Lviv on his two day visit, reaffirmed that there were still several "small problems" to deal with before the championships get underway.
There had been doubts about Ukraine's ability to host the championships at all amid an economic crisis, but Platini said these had been completely erased.

"We asked whether we could continue to stay in Ukraine at all, then we asked if we could just stay in two cities but now the work is so well done that we will stay in the four cities," the former French star said.