Oceania soccer reacted with outrage on Sunday after FIFA voted to strip the confederation of a full place in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Oceania had won the right to direct entry with a unanimous FIFA vote in December last year but the decision was overturned by a 22-1 vote in Paris on Saturday.

"In my view, the decision is a disgrace and I think it is politically driven to accommodate the powerful South Americans," Oceania Confederation President Basil Scarsella told Australian Associated Press.

"It's unethical, it's immoral, call it what you like."

Scarsella said FIFA had pointed to Oceania representative New Zealand's recent poor performance at the Confederations Cup in France and Soccer Australia's administrative problems as reasons for the move but he dismissed these as not valid.

"These are excuses more than reasons in my mind. The executive committee had overwhelmingly supported them in the past and now they've gone 180 degrees," Scarsella said.

Australia have only qualified once for the World Cup, in 1974, and New Zealand progressed eight years later.

Since then the Socceroos have suffered several near misses in World Cup qualifiers including playoff losses to Scotland, Argentina, Iran and Uruguay.

"Clearly it's a significant setback for soccer in this region ... and for the credibility of FIFA," Scarsella said in an Australia television interview on Sunday.

"I guess we need to look now at what is the best playoff mechanism that is on offer."

Former Australia captain Paul Wade told Australian television he was "devastated".

"We're a joke in world football. Even when we beat England (3-1 earlier this year) they still say that we are a backwater," Wade said.

"It's not all over for Australian soccer but at the same time there were some tears in my cornflakes this morning."