"There is agreement that these qualifiers are costly and very long," said Nestor Benitez, press officer for the South American Football Confederation (CSF).

Poor economic conditions in the region and the constant complaints of European clubs over the number of times their South American internationals are called away on World Cup duty were reasons for a rethink, Benitez said.

One suggestion for an alternative system was two groups of five in a round-robin tournament with each team playing four matches and the top three in each going into a final group of six. These six best teams would play nine matches each in total.

For the 2002 World Cup in Asia and the next tournament in Germany in 2006, South America has used a single round-robin group with each country playing 18 matches over two years.

The top four qualify for the finals and the fifth plays off against the winners of the Oceania region.

World Cup holders Brazil top the group just past the halfway stage with 20 points from 10 matches followed by Argentina on 19 points, Paraguay 16 and Ecuador, Chile and Venezuela all on 13.