Japan to tell Blatter it is a safe venue

Japan will seek to reassure Sepp Blatter that it is a safe venue for hosting world football as the FIFA president visits in the wake of a tsunami which sparked the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, Japan's FA said.

Junji Ogura, head of the Japan Football Association, told local media on Tuesday he would try to confirm that the money-spinning Club World Cup, which FIFA has yet to schedule officially, will be held in Japan in December in spite of the March 11 disaster.

"In his meetings with senior Japanese officials, I hope he will be assured that conditions allow hosting," Ogura told reporters.

The annual tournament, held in Japan four times before the United Arab Emirates took over hosting duties in 2009, pits the champion teams from all six continental confederations against one another.

Ogura said Blatter would discuss various aid programmes, including repairing stadiums with earthquake damage and a possible charity match to raise funds for reconstruction across the nation.

The JFA was unavailable to confirm Ogura's comments.

Many foreigners fled Japan after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake unleashed a tsunami which knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, sparking a nuclear emergency.

The power station has continued to release radioactive material into the environment, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate homes, farms and businesses in a 20-kilometre (12-mile) zone around the plant.

Officials hope to bring reactors to a stable cold shutdown by January at the latest.