World Cup winners will not get automatic 2006 berth

The winners of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan will not get an automatic berth in the 2006 finals, FIFA announced on Friday.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter told a news conference: "We've taken quite an historic decision today. The champion of Korea/Japan 2002 will not be automatically qualified. This is new and even brand new."

Blatter said it was to allow the champions the chance to have official matches in the build-up to the following tournament rather than friendlies.

It also freed up one more slot in the finals for the confederations, he added, and cleared up an anomaly in that champions of regional tournaments like the European and South American championship do not qualify automatically for the next finals.

In the past World Cup winners have always qualified automatically for the next finals.