The international soccer governing body, FIFA, has eased its limit on holding matches at high-altitude stadiums from 25-hundred meters to three-thousand.

FIFA President Joseph Blatter announced the results after holding a meeting with South American officials who opposed the regulation, as it would bar games from being held at many of the stadiums in their countries.

With the new adjustment, preliminary games for the 2010 World Cup can now be held in the Ecuadorian and Colombian capitals, but pitches in Bolivia’s La Paz and Peru’s Cusco still lie above the new altitude limit.