May 26, 2002

SEOUL, Switzerland (AP) -- In a policy reversal, FIFA on Sunday ordered that Argentina must use the No. 10 shirt this World Cup rather than allowing it to be set aside in honor of Diego Maradona.

FIFA's executive committee overruled a decision Saturday by its World Cup Organizing Committee and said it could not make an exception for the Argentinian squad as this risked opening the floodgates to other teams asking to immortalize numbers of their famous players.

"We have regulations and they have to be applied to all the federations taking part in the World Cup," said FIFA President Sepp Blatter. "We don't want there to be any exceptions."

The executive committee ruling overturned a decision Saturday by the World Cup Organizing Committee which relaxed the normal regulation limiting teams to 23 numbers for the squad and said Argentina's third choice goalie would wear No. 24.

In future World Cups, FIFA might consider relaxing the rules on shirt numbers to allow squads a bigger selection. But it was impossible to introduce such a change for this year's tournament which kicks off Friday in Seoul, he said.

The Argentine soccer federation had petitioned FIFA to retire its No. 10.

Blatter said the federation had accepted the executive committee decision with the words "sometimes you have to know how to lose."

The decision means that the No. 10 shirt will now go to Argentina's third goalkeeper Roberto Bonano.

"It could be a very funny situation because the Argentinian No. 10 in this World Cup may use his hands," commented Blatter in reference to Maradona's disputed 1986 goal against England which he attributed to the "hand of God."