Soccer's world governing body Wednesday asked the Japanese organizing committee for the 2002 World Cup and local organizers to closely watch for the sale of counterfeit World Cup merchandise at next year's event

According to FIFA, 308 cases of imitation T-shirts and other merchandise bearing the official World Cup emblem have been discovered worldwide.

Twenty-eight cases of fake World Cup goods, including imitation World Cup trophies, occurred in Japan while cohost South Korea has had 81 cases.