FIFA asks clubs to release players for London 2012 Olympic Games
The International Federation of Association Football, FIFA, has recently made an announcement which states its rule that asks the football clubs to make available the players that are under the age of 23 years.
These players have been asked to be available for the upcoming London 2012 Olympic Games.
The governing body of world football released the following statement on the matter in order to state its stance, “The executive decided that the release of the under-23 players by clubs for Olympic football tournaments will be compulsory.”
Sepp Blatter, who is the president of FIFA, expressed himself by making the following statements, “For the first time, all of these players will be insured, as of the Sept 1 from this current year. This is a novelty, it is to the benefit of everyone, from
the smallest such as Djibouti, to large federations such as Italy. Everyone stands to benefit from this.”
However, the European Club Association, (ECA), has criticized the decision taken by FIFA on the matter.
The football event conducted in the 2008 Olympic Games previously had to tackle with an argument over the star player Lionel Messi. Messi played and still plays for the football club Barcelona. Argentina had been wanting to have Messi on its team so that
the star player could represent his country in the Olympic Games but his club Barcelona was not releasing him.
As a result, the matter was taken up to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). After a prolonged tug of war between Argentina and Barcelona, the club won the argument of having the right to keep Messi associated with it.
However, after the court ruled in its favour, Barcelona eventually let Messi go and play for his country in the Olympic Games. As a result, Messi was able to play in the 2008 Olympics and enable Argentina to take home the gold in the Olympic tournament.
The upcoming London 2012 Olympics will start from July 27 and last till August 12. The hosting of the Games by the capital of England will make it the first city in the world to have done so for three times.
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