Quito's mayor Paco Moncayo joined on Tuesday the international protest against a measure planned by soccer governing body, the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA), to bar international competitions above 2,500-meters altitude.

Speaking at a Tuesday press conference, Moncayo said that Quito is Ecuador's national soccer team's center of operations and the place where the nation won its two World Cup places; in 2002 and 2006.

He said he would send a letter to FIFA, saying that the decision "is an attack on Andean cities sand on the universality principle in football". FIFA claims to promote the universality of the sport.

"I don't know of a single player that has had health problems or died due to Quito's altitude," he added, echoing the words of Luis Fernando Suarez, the manager of Ecuador's national soccer team.

He said he would also work with the mayors of other Andean cities affected by the move, urging them to write formal letters of complaint to FIFA president Josep Blatter, adding that they were coordinating via internet, because their diaries made it difficult for them to meet.

"Ecuador reached the second round of the World Cup in Germany based on its football. Had it not been for that goal by England mid-fielder David Beckham, we would have gone much further, and without an altitude advantage," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 30, 2007)