Fifa president Sepp Blatter admits the deadline for World Cup squad selection could be pushed back following objections from Sven-Goran Eriksson and Jurgen Klinsmann.
The England and Germany managers have called for Fifa to allow national teams extra time to complete their plans for the finals, which begin on June 9th. Eriksson says he also has the backing of Holland boss Marco van Basten.
If there is no change from Fifa, Eriksson will have to name his 23-man party on May 15th, more than three weeks before England’s opening game against Paraguay.
The date also falls before the Champions League final and England´s warm-up games against Hungary and Jamaica. Managers want to delay their final selection until the start of June and plan to discuss the problem at a Fifa workshop in Dusseldorf, Germany this month.
Now Blatter admits they could get their way, telling German newspaper Bild: "That is not completely ruled out. If that is now officially stated, then the Fifa organisation committee can debate it again in mid-March."
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