Blatter: World Cup security will rival Olympics
MANCHESTER - Last week's attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team in Pakistan has not raised security fears over the 2010 World Cup, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Wednesday.
"We can cross our fingers because so far our game has never been a target for those with the objective of destroying," Blatter told reporters. "What happened in Pakistan was definitely political, it was a fire that can burn every day."
Blatter said security at this year's Confederations Cup and next year's World Cup in South Africa would rival that seen at the Beijing Olympic Games last year.
"We will be careful in terms of the security of the event. We witnessed the high level of security at the Olympics -- and this will be maintained in South Africa, both during the FIFA Confederations Cup and the FIFA World Cup," he said.
"I hope this high security level will be one of South Africa's legacies to future FIFA World Cups."
Sports organisers have been put on alert following the attacks in Lahore that injured several Sri Lankan players and left seven people dead.
However, Blatter said there was no question of heightened security risks affecting the movement of footballers and fans.
"It would be wrong to stop all the travelling in football. The internationality of the game is one of its great strengths," he said.
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"What we have to do is to make sure we are careful where we organise our competitions and that the organising committees have proper event security."