FIFA seeks neutral city for Sudan-Chad game

July 3, 2008 (ZURICH, Switzerland) — FIFA is searching for a neutral venue to stage two World Cup qualifiers between warring neighbours Sudan and Chad.

World soccer’s governing body has told the two countries to play their African Group 10 games in the same city on September 6 and 10.

“The city where the matches will be held will be communicated at a later date,” FIFA said in a statement Wednesday.

The World Cup organizing committee suspended a May 31 game scheduled to be played in Omdurman, near Sudan’s capital Khartoum, after diplomatic relations were broken off between the countries. Their border runs along the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur.

The matches are also intended to count toward qualifying for the 2010 African Cup of Nations being staged in Angola. The African football confederation threw Chad out of the tournament for failing to travel for the match.

(CP)