- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
FIFA president Sepp Blatter today accused clubs of going against the Olympic spirit in trying to stop their players going to Beijing.
“It would appear to be against the spirit of the Olympic regulations to hinder players under the age of 23, who are actually the core of the squads participating in the men’s Olympic football tournament, to take part in the final phase of the event,” Blatter said in a letter to the world governing football body’s 205 member associations.
“The release of players below the age of 23 (for the Olympics) has always been mandatory for all clubs.
“The same principle shall apply for Beijing 2008,” he said, urging national associations to inform their clubs of the rule.
Blatter spoke out as German clubs Schalke and Werder Bremen prepared to step up their fight to prevent their Brazilian players – respectively, Rafinha and Diego – playing in Beijing next month.
The clubs say the players didn’t have their permission to join up with the Brazil squad in Paris earlier this week to prepare for the August 8-24 games.
Both clubs have pledged to go to sport’s highest appeal body, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
CAS secretary general Matthieu Reeb said in a statement today that “no appeal has been filed and no contact has been made with the CAS by Werder or another club so far.”
The clubs say the players are needed for pre-season practice, the August 15 start of the Bundesliga season and, for Schalke, a Champions League qualifying match on Aug. 12 or 13.
Their complaint was taken to FIFA by the German national association (DFB) and they won further support Wednesday from the European Club Association (ECA), a new body representing Europe’s best and wealthiest clubs including Schalke and Werder.
ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said his members have football law on their side against FIFA.
“(We) support all clubs that currently face losing important players,” Rummenigge said. “As the Olympics are not included in the harmonised International Match Calendar, the obligation to release players for national team matches according to the FIFA regulations … does not apply.”
He said this legal point was clarified in meetings with FIFA, which officially recognised the Geneva-based ECA when it was created in January to represent 103 of Europe’s top clubs.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.