FIFA rejects Ireland bid to be 33rd World Cup team
Published
Dec. 1, 2009 6:16 p.m. ET

foxsports
Ireland will not be invited into the World Cup as a 33rd team even though Thierry Henry's handball helped France eliminate the Irish in a playoff, FIFA said Tuesday.
FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said that it was "impossible" to change the structure of the tournament and that doing so would open FIFA to a host of other complaints of teams that felt they were cheated during qualifying.
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