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Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador have been told by Fifa that they can no longer stage international matches in their capitals. Football's governing body has imposed a ban on international games being played above altitudes of 2,500 metres (8,200ft), claiming that it is dangerous for footballers unaccustomed to the shortage of oxygen. Peru will also be forced to abandon plans to hold World Cup qualifiers in mountain cities. The ban has sparked protests in the Andes, with footbal authorities and political leaders saying that the move was discriminatory and 'Euro-centric'. It may also trigger a boycott of the continent's showcase event, the Cpa América, due to start in Venezuela this month. Many in the Andes suspect that the ban is the result of pressure from Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, which have long claimed that playing at high altitude gives an unfair advantage to the home side. People accustomed to exercising at high altitudes produce more oxygen-carrying red blood cells.
Ecuador has qualified for the past two World Cups, thanks to its record in the thin air of Quito, which helped to offset far less impressive results away from home. Peru, which has performed dismally in World Cup qualifying in recent decades, planned to switch to all its home games to the Andean fastness of Cuzco in an attempt to copy the Ecuadorian strategy. Fifa said that it ordered the ban on medical advice and to end what it said was the unfair advantage that teams from high-altitude regions had when playing against visitors from low-lying areas. Experts from the Andes says that Fifa has provided no sound evidence that players are at risk playing at high altitude. Opponents of the move say that playing at altitude is no worse than playing in the humidity of cities like Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires, and that it will open the way to all sorts of challenges by teams claiming an unfair advantage. Interestingly, the limit has been set only 260 metres above Mexico City, the venue for the World Cup finals in 1970 and 1986.
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