LIMA, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Bolivia's President Evo Morales announced on Monday that his government will work with regional governors, town halls and other heads of state to defend the right to play high-altitude soccer, according to news reaching here on Monday.

    His statement comes a day after the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) barred soccer games above 2,500-meterof sea level.

    Morales said he will send FIFA a letter urging the body to reconsider the plan, which has not yet been confirmed by the body's 57th Congress.

    Morales described the decision as "an attack on the integration of peoples, on the universality of sport and a clear expression of discrimination".

    Juan del Granado, mayor of Bolivia's administrative capital La Paz, has called a meeting of mayors from Oruro, Potosi, Sucre and Cochabamba, all of which are more than 2,500-meter above sea level.

    He will also contact mayors from cities in neighboring Peru, Colombia and Ecuador. Together they will seek to defend sport at high altitudes.

    The FIFA decision affects Peru's Garcilaso de la Vega Stadium, in the southern Andean city of Cusco, which had been listed as one of the sites for the South American qualifying matches ahead of the 2010 South Africa World Cup.

    Other stadiums hit by the move include Atahualpa, in the Ecuadorian capital Quito, and El Campin, in Colombian capital Bogota.