RIO DE JANEIRO, AUG 7: Fifa President Joao Havelange is threatening to bar Brazil from the 1998 World Cup if Congress approves a proposal by Pele that would radically change professional soccer in the South American country.Havelange, who is a Brazilian, said the changes violate Fifa statutes.

``If this really is approved there will be no other alternative,'' Havelange said in an interview yesterday with Rio newspaper Jornal Do Brasil. ``Brazil will be unable to participate in the World Cup.''

If that happens, it would be the first World Cup without Brazil. The four-time winner of the trophy, Brazil qualifies for France '98 as defending champion.

Pele, now Brazil's Minister of Sports, presented a draft of the bill to President Fernando Henrique Cardoso in Brasilia on Tuesday. The proposal is being studied by legal experts and will likely be modified before it goes to Congress.

Among the proposed changes, the bill would, in two years time after it becomes a law, eliminate transfer fees for all players after their contracts expire, similar to the effect of the Bosman Ruling in Europe.

Soccer clubs would be required to become businesses, subject to public inspection. Clubs that fail to pay salaries on time a common practice today would be subject to sanctions.

Cardoso reportedly suggested offering tax breaks to clubs that invest in junior divisions, and Pele was to take that idea to the Brazilian Internal Revenue Service.

But what Havelange most objected to were proposals that would allow referees to form commercial associations and would make sports tribunals autonomous.``The Fifa statute says referees must be subordinate to (federations), just like the tribunals,'' he was quoted as saying.

However, local soccer analysts said Havelange's real gripe was that the bill would strip power from the Brazilian Soccer Confederation, or CBF, which is run by his son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira. The bill would allow teams to form leagues, leaving the CBF to care exclusively for the national team.

Pele has a long-running feud with Teixeira, whom he has accused of running a corrupt administration. Havelange defends his son-in-law but takes the proposal as a personal affront.

``It's obvious that these attitudes are aimed at a single person,'' said Havelange. ``I am a person respected around the world, and the government of my country is turned against the organisation I direct.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.