Leaders of world football have agreed in principle to rotate future World Cup finals among the world's six continents, starting in 10 years time.

The decision came on Thursday at a meeting of the executive committee of football's world governing board, Fifa, in Zurich.

The form in which the prestigious and highly lucrative World Cup finals are rotated still has to be worked out by a Fifa committee, officials said.

The review of selection procedures follows the controversy that surrounded the recent choice of Germany as the host of the 2006 World Cup, ahead of South Africa which had been expected to be selected.

The Swiss president of Fifa, Sepp Blatter, told the executive committee that South Africa's request for arbitration over the decision was "inappropriate".

Blatter ruled out a re-run of July's vote, and said it had been carried out according to all the Fifa rules.

Germany was chosen by a one vote margin, after the New Zealand delegate, Charles Dempsey, ignored instructions from his national federation to vote for South Africa. Dempsey resigned in the wake of the uproar caused by his abstention.

The meeting of the Fifa executive is being followed by a two-day gathering of the 203 associations which make up the Fifa Congress.

The choice of the host country for the women's 2003 World Cup is also to be made this week in Zurich. China and Australia are the two candidates.

swissinfo with agencies

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