|
|
 |
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE | |
FIFA backs national sides France, Australia can name full-strength squads
Updated: Thursday November 01, 2001 2:16 PM
ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) -- Soccer's world governing body Thursday upheld the right of France and Australia to field all their top players from European clubs for next week's friendly in Melbourne. FIFA said its players' status committee confirmed that, under rules applying to release of players for international matches, Australia and France could call up full-strength squads for the Nov. 11 game. European clubs, led by Arsenal, had sought to prevent or restrict the release of their players for the game, arguing that it was unfair to subject them to roundtrip 46-hour flights during the height of the domestic league seasons. France, the reigning world and European champion, has called up eight players from English Premier League teams Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea. Australia's squad includes two Leeds stars, Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell. Arsenal is the hardest hit, losing four French stars -- Robert Pires, Sylvain Wiltord, Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira. The club-vs.-country dispute has raged for weeks. The clubs had hoped that a FIFA rule which limited the number of times they had to release players for friendly matches would back their case. FIFA said that Thursday that, under Article 36 of its regulations, clubs must release players for up to eight international friendlies per calendar year. Since France has not yet played eight friendly matches this year, the clubs must free their players for the trip to Australia. France has played 12 international matches this calendar year, but five of those were in the Confederations Cup. FIFA said the Confederations Cup was considered a competitive tournament and not a friendly. Last week, FIFA urged Australia and France to select just one player per European club. But after protests from both sides, FIFA withdrew the recommendation. Australia has been furious at attempts to restrict the number of players for the game, which it considers a vital warmup for its World Cup qualifying playoff against the fifth-place team from South America. France qualifies automatically for next year's 32-team finals in South Korea and Japan as reigning champion. South Americans cleared to play for clubsZURICH, Switzerland (AP) -- FIFA on Thursday cleared European-based South American stars to play league games for their clubs days before next week's World Cup qualifying matches. A FIFA committee ruled that European teams like Manchester United, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid could select their players for next weekend's league games. The decision frees United to field Argentine Juan Sebastian Veron, while Barcelona and Madrid can select their Brazilian players Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos. The European clubs will be able to field their South American players despite FIFA's "five-day rule," spokesman Andreas Herren told The Associated Press. The rule means players cannot normally take part in club matches for five days before an international game. "This is an exception to the rule -- we try to be as equitable as possible," said Herren. "We try to take into account the interests of all parties involved -- the national associations, the clubs and the players themselves." FIFA said the South American associations had only "a few days ago" confirmed Nov. 7 as the date for their 17th round qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup. In February 2000 both Nov. 7 and 8 were set aside for international matches, as were Nov. 10 and 11. "Bearing this in mind, the European associations could have reasonably expected the qualifiers in South America to be played on Nov. 8," said FIFA in a statement. "It would be unfair to deprive clubs of the services of some of their top players, as they would not have been able to foresee this situation when establishing their own fixtures. "The clubs will be asked to take the necessary steps to ensure that the players are at the immediate disposal of their national teams after they have played their league matches this weekend." UEFA concerned over FIFA's club vs. country rowGENEVA (Reuters) -- European soccer's ruling body UEFA attacked FIFA in a growing club-versus-country row after the world body backed France's right to call up a full-strength squad for a controversial friendly in Australia on November 11. In a statement, UEFA said its Club Competitions Committee -- composed of representatives from top clubs and national associations -- expressed its "surprise and concern" at recent FIFA rulings on the release of players. "This committee is seriously concerned over the confusion and uncertainty created by the recent actions of FIFA in relation to the release of players and the new rules governing international transfers," it said. UEFA said FIFA had "effectively withdrawn" a recent circular to clubs and national associations sent after the introduction of a new international transfer system in September. After a meeting of its Players" Status Committee on Wednesday, FIFA said it had confirmed that clubs had to release French players for eight friendly internationals per year. The world champions" game in Melbourne is their eighth of 2001. Leading European clubs, led by England's Arsenal, had complained that their players would be left exhausted by the long trip in the middle of a hard season. FIFA had earlier recommended that France and Australia select only one player from each club. Also on Thursday FIFA changed its mind over whether clubs would have to release players before the weekend to travel to South America for World Cup qualifiers. FIFA said it now believed it would be unfair for clubs like Manchester United and Barcelona to be deprived of top players after South American soccer associations were late in agreeing the date of their penultimate qualifiers, set for Wednesday. Argentina's Juan Sebastian Veron will therefore be able to play for Manchester United against Liverpool this weekend, and Rivaldo for Barcelona against Real Madrid. To United's annoyance, Veron had been expected to fly out to South America on Friday despite an earlier agreement between the club and Argentina that the midfielder would leave on Sunday afternoon after the game at Anfield. Major difficulties UEFA said: "In particular we would register our grave concern over the handling of the release of players issue whereby provisions contained in the official circular letter on the obligations of clubs and the dates to be applied are now being changed by the latest FIFA decisions. "We believe major difficulties are being caused by this confusion and would want to see clarification in the rules governing both the release of players and international transfers." France coach Roger Lemerre called up four Arsenal players on Tuesday, and two from Manchester United and Chelsea, saying he would not bow to attempts to hold his internationals "hostage." The new transfer system was a compromise deal thrashed out by soccer's governing bodies and the European Union over six months of fractious negotiations during which UEFA president Lennart Johansson and FIFA president Sepp Blatter fell out spectacularly. The EU's executive, the European Commission, had insisted the former system, where clubs demanded a fee for in-contract players, broke the bloc's employment rules. Key elements of the deal were that players had to honor their contracts within the first two years of a three year "protected" period or face a four month ban; compensation for clubs training young players; one main transfer window per season; and compensation to be paid if a contract is breached.
Reuters contributed to this report.
| |||||||||||||||||||||
