Flamengo criticizes Conmebol's decision to maintain high-altitude games

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Football club Flamengo's president Marcio Braga classified as "absurd" the decision taken by the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) to maintain games held in high-altitude places, which had been banned by FIFA from competitions among national teams.

"Conmebol's decision id absurd," said the president, who doubted Conmebol's competence to take such decision, pointing out that the entity does not follow FIFA's decision.

Flamengo will play Peru's Cienciano in the Libertadores Cup's second phase Wednesday. The game will be held in Cuzco, in the Peruvian Andes, in an altitude of 3,800 meters above sea level.

According to FIFA's unanimous decision, official football games could no longer be hosted in places located in any altitude higher than 2,750 meters, but the rule was valid only to national teams. FIFA only recommended that regional tournaments played by clubs followed the decision too.

Flamengo has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, where Braga has a meeting scheduled for Monday to discuss the issue.

The president argues that the high altitude endangers the lives of the players who are not accustomed to the thin air of the Andes. However, he stressed that the final decision of the CAS will "have to be respected, no matter which it will be."