Charles Dempsey was perfectly entitled to abstain in last week's 2006 World Cup vote, according to FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

The New Zealander's decision not to support South Africa in the final vote cost them the chance to host the event and has caused controversy around the world, not least among his own Oceania confederation members, whose views he is said to have disregarded.

Blatter admits Dempsey was within his rights in abstaining, but does not approve of the manner in which he did it. "Mr Dempsey had the right to abstain, even though I regret the fact that he did," said Blatter.

"Instead of shouting it from the rooftops that he abstained, he could at least have gone into the voting booth and spoiled his ballot paper."

But Blatter conceded there was no irregularity in the voting procedure and effectively ruled out a re-run. "The vote conformed to FIFA rules and Swiss law," he said.

Blatter warned that there should be no repeat of the events of last Thursday. "We now have the evidence that it is time to rotate the World Cup," he said, proposing that it be enshrined in the constitution that the six regional confederations take it in turns to host the competition.

And a spokesman for the African Football Confederation (CAF), Viken Djizmedjian, confirmed FIFA's executive committee have agreed to debate a proposal to rotate the World Cup finals among the continents when they meet in Zurich next month. Djizmedjian added that the CAF hoped the executive committee would then pass the proposal on for approval by the general assembly. "We're hopeful," he added. "It's good timing after this disappointment.

"This is the right time to do it. Through this South Africa will have a great chance of hosting it in 2010."

British sports minister Kate Hoey has launched an astonishing attack on England's failed attempt to stage the 2006 World Cup, and in particular the bid leader Alec McGivan.

"We never had a chance of winning," Hoey said yesterday. "But people kept writing and saying that we did, and swallowed the words of Alec McGivan as if he was some kind of god."

Hoey said the bid was ill-conceived from the start, adding: "As I travelled around Europe and spoke to sports ministers, it became clear that the gentleman's agreement with Germany, which we went back on, had upset people and given us no hope.

North and South Korean officials will meet FIFA chief Sepp Blatter during September's Sydney Olympics to discuss the possibility of co-hosting matches during the 2002 World Cup.

South Korean football supremo Chung Mong-Joon said Blatter was likely to meet with Korean officials in Adelaide after the possibility of matches being played in North Korea was discussed last week by FIFA's executive committee.

FIFA yesterday banned Harare's national stadium from staging international games for an indefinite period following the deaths of 13 people in a stampede at the venue on Sunday.

"FIFA have banned the use of the national sports stadium," said Zimbabwe Football Association spokesman Peter Mukuna. "The ban is for an indefinite period of time until FIFA have completed their own investigations.

Police fired tear gas into the stands after disgruntled Zimbabwe supporters in the 60,000 crowd threw bottles onto the pitch following South Africa's second goal in the 2002 World Cup qualifying match. The 13 fans were crushed to death during the stampede to get out.

Czech international goalkeeper Pavel Srnicek has signed for Italian First division club Brescia on a free transfer from Sheffield Wednesday.

The former Newcastle goalkeeper exercised a clause in his contract last month which allowed him to leave Hillsborough for nothing after he failed to make an agreed number of appearances for Wednesday.

Srnicek (32), a member of the Czech Republic squad at Euro 2000, has signed a three-year deal with the northern Italian club, who were promoted at the end of last season.

Spain international winger Pedro Munitis joined Real Madrid from Racing Santander for £10.31 million sterling yesterday. Munitis scored a superb goal in Spain's dramatic 4-3 victory over Yugoslavia at Euro 2000 and was outstanding in the first half of the quarterfinal defeat by France, as Lilian Thuram failed to combat his tricky skills.

Irish League champions Linfield hope to follow in the footsteps of Rangers today and knock Finns FC Haka out of the Champions League qualifying stages.

The Finnish side, currently at the top of their domestic league, were crushed 7-1 on aggregate by the Scottish champions on their last foray into Europe's premier competition.

It will be the first time Linfield have played since last season when they won their domestic title by a record-breaking 18 points. In contrast, FC Haka have been playing for half a season and won 4-0 at the weekend.