FIFA announced a 60 percent hike in prize money for next year's World Cup and offered Ireland "moral compensation" for missing out thanks to Thierry Henry's handball. Emerging from a historic meeting on Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and current South African President Jacob Zuma were both jailed during the struggle against apartheid, FIFA's executive committee approved an increase in prize money for the 2010 championship in South Africa from $261 million to $420 million. FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke announced that the winner would take home $31 million while each of the 32 teams would receive at least $9 million if they do not progress from the first round. Ireland won't get a cent, however, after losing in the playoffs when a Henry handball set up a vital equalizer for France. FIFA president Sepp Blatter said that paying Ireland would lead to more countries demanding compensation for incorrect referees decisions. But he is considering some kind of special award for the unlucky Irish. "If you start to compensate teams that are not qualified then there are others that are coming too," the FIFA president told a news conference held in the prison hall at Robben Island. "But when it comes to this final match where all the world saw the obvious foul play, then there may be moral compensation. We will have a look at that." Asked what he meant by moral compensation, Blatter said it could be a special award or a prize. FIFA's 24-man executive also turned down calls to restrict the 2012 Olympic men's football tournament to players 21 and under, and will stick with an under-23 format plus three overage players for the London Games. European governing body UEFA wanted the change to ensure that top players stay with their clubs during preseason training. But the current format is popular with the International Olympic Committee because it allows teams to select some of the game's biggest names to play for the gold medal. At the last Olympics in China, then 28-year-old midfielder Ronaldinho played for Brazil, 30-year-old midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme represented Argentina and 33-year-old striker Roy Makaay turned out for the Netherlands. "We have decided to keep the structure as happened before in 2008, that is an age limit of 23 plus three overage players," Valcke said. "There will be a meeting in Zurich in February to decide the period beyond 2012 but for the moment things will stay as they are." Recognizing the rise and spread of women's international football, the executive committee also announced an expansion of the Women's World Cup from 16 teams from 24 in 2015, although no venue has yet been decided. "The value of women's football around the world has become higher and higher," said Valcke. "By 2015 it will make sense to move from 16 to 24 teams. In Germany in 2011 it will stay at 16 teams." The executive committee, which includes former greats Michel Platini and Franz Beckenbauer and is responsible for most of the big decisions that affect the game worldwide, met some of the former inmates who were once forbidden from playing sports during the apartheid regime but made balls out of rags to play in their cells. Once allowed to play on a poor quality football pitch on the prison grounds, they formed their own Makana Football Association, which is an honorary member of FIFA.
