Loading ...Aug 06 2008
CAS Rebuffs FIFA on Olympics, Football
The Court of Arbitration for Sport, to which Barcelona, Werder Bremen, and Schalke had appealed FIFA’s ruling compelling the release of U23-eligible players for the Olympics, has sided with the clubs, ruling teams are not required to release their players for participation in the Games. The CAS said that clubs have no legal obligation to release the players since the Games do not fall within the agreed to International Match Calendar.
The CAS did, however, encourage all parties to continue working towards an amicable solution. Shortly after the ruling, both Werder Bremen and Schalke granted their players - Diego and Rafinha, respectively - permission to play. Barcelona has not said whether they intend to follow through on their previous plans to call Lionel Messi back from Beijing. Argentine coach Sergio Batista has said he anticipates Messi will stay with the team after joining them late last week.
Though it ruled in the clubs favor, the CAS said it will not mandate non-released players be banned from playing in the games. The court said that their ruling does not effect the eligibility of any players who have already been entered by their national sides. That interpretation puts the burden for upholding this ruling not on the International Olympic Committee, FIFA, or the country’s federation. The burden falls upon the players, who would be in breach of contract should they defy their clubs in the face of the CAS ruling. With Diego and Rafinha having now received permission to play, the only footballer in danger of breaching contract is Messi.
Argentina opens their Olympic tournament tomorrow against the Côte d’Ivoire. Likewise, Brazil plays tomorrow, against Belgium. Barcelona wants Messi back for their Wednesday Champions League qualifying match with Wisla Krakow. Schalke will take on Atlético Madrid without Rafinha.
Barcelona had previously agreed to let Messi join Argentina should Barça have a comfortable lead after the first leg of their qualifying tie. That compromise solution was offered before the CAS ruling and would have seen Messi join Argentina for the medal round. It is unclear whether Barcelona would be willing to grant such a release in light of the CAS’s decision.
While Messi’s Olympic hopes remain in the balance, his gold medal dreams have not been the biggest loser of the saga’s denouement; rather, it is the sport’s governing body that has taken the biggest hit.
In attempting to flex his organization’s muscle and force through a U23-policy for the Olympics that defied his own organization’s International Match Calendar, FIFA president Sepp Blatter unwittingly walked into a club-versus-country fight, misjudging his adversary in the process. All along, it was apparently that FIFA had overreached it power (and the tacit agreement it held with clubs) when it compelled player releases for a tournament that was not taking place in a release period. It should not have been a surprise that clubs fought the ruling, nor should FIFA have been caught off guard that the CAS upheld a club view that relied on agreed-to timelines over FIFA’s logic of custom and spirit. While it is disappointing that the Olympics have fallen so far in esteem that individual football clubs feel justified in withholding players from the tournament, the regulations backed club claims.
There was always a chance that the CAS would rule with FIFA and uphold tradition, but FIFA should have known the clubs would balk. The European Club Association had been itching for a battle ever since it was late showing up to 6+5’s funeral. The ECA was going to fight to the end, no matter what. More than for questioning the Olympic ideal or maintaining control over a few players, the ECA saw this issue as one that spoke to the heart of who controls the footballing world. To the ECA, the clubs have control. In the fight to affirm that control, a fight the ECA was formed to win, the clubs have won Round 1.
Perhaps Blatter and the similarly inclined UEFA president Michel Platini will tread lightly next time they wish to butt heads with the clubs, seeing that this first battle was never about the players. Werder Bremen and Schalke’s easy about-faces on Diego and Rafinha showed that. It was about Blatter overstepping. The next battle could be about a Platini-pushed debt-plan or one of Blatter’s club-controlling player restrictions. The next battle could also be waged for Platini or Blatter’s jobs, with the clubs exerting pressure on their home federations to start looking out for the local interests in addition to contemplating which nation gets a major tournament.
The CAS’s ruling not only rebuffed Blatter and FIFA on the Olympics, it rebuffed the whole organization and marginalized it power by backing the clubs. The clubs now know they have a track to follow in restraining FIFA. That Blatter would ever let this battle come to this point was a huge tactical error. Now FIFA’s lack of power is evident, splashed across every football site in the world. Before it tripped into this fight, FIFA’s impotence was a topic for message board conversation and football theorists with excessive time on their hands. Had Blatter not engaged in this beguiling act of hubris and stuck to the letter of the law - or, better yet, worked with and not over the clubs - FIFA would today be stronger for having brokered a solution.
But today they are weaker, their most dangerous adversary is stronger, and the organization is left to fire verbal salvos referencing spirit and custom. Even in that vein they have ceded the high road to Werder and Schalke, who have magnanimously released their players. FIFA, in contrast, remains petulant.
Quotes
“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld the appeals filed by FC Schalke 04, SV Werder Bremen and FC Barcelona against the decision issued on 30 July 2008 by the Single Judge of the Fifa’s Players’ Status Committee that consequently has been set aside in its entirety.” - CAS
“The Olympic Football Tournament Beijing 2008 is not included in the Co-ordinated Match Calendar and there is no specific decision of the Fifa Executive Committee establishing the obligation for the clubs to release players under 23 for this tournament.” - CAS
“The requirements to justify a legal obligation of clubs to release their players for the Football Tournament Beijing 2008 on the basis of customary law are not met.” - CAS
“I’m calm and confident about this because I have spoken with the player and know what [Messi] is thinking. The player is going to make it clear to Barcelona that he wants to stay here.” - Batista
“In view of FIFA’s recommendation made to the clubs to release their players as well as of the Olympic spirit, the CAS call upon the goodwill and good sense of FIFA and the clubs to find a reasonable solution with regard to players who wish to represent their country in the Olympic Games.” - CAS
“We are confident and hopeful that [Messi] will remain here with the team for the whole tournament.” - Batista
“Fifa is surprised and disappointed by this decision, but we respect it.” - Blatter
“I regret that the CAS has not taken the Olympic spirit into consideration.” - Blatter
“The Olympic Football Tournaments are a unique opportunity for a player as they are high-level competitions that give everyone involved - most notably young players - the chance to gain international experience that will stand them in good stead for the future. It stands to reason, therefore, that it is not only the player and his national team who can benefit from such an experience, but also his club.” - Blatter
“I do not want to go into the legal side of all this, but I do know that [Messi] will be playing with us for the entire championship.” - Batista
“Theoretically the clubs could ask their players to go back to Europe because they would be entitled to do so. And if the players do not come back there could be a case of a breach of contract.” - Matthieu Reeb, secretary, CAS
“It is now the moment for everyone to sit at the table and find a reasonable solution. Of course, this could affect the tournament and it’s in the interest of nobody to destroy what could be an extraordinary tournament this year. But this is a matter for clubs, FIFA and the players to decide.” - Reeb
“We could have done with our strongest squad for these matches. We firmly believe, however, that unfortunately there is absolutely no point in bringing Rafinha back one day before our opening game.” - Andreas Muller, general manager, Schalke
“All the frustration and the huge disappointment he would feel, coupled with the exertions of travelling, would not in our opinion have put him in a position to play to the best of his ability.” - Muller
Links
Court blocks Messi from playing
Clubs win Olympic appeal
Fifa disappointed with CAS decision
FIFA disappointed by CAS decision
Messi wants to stay with Argentina - Batista
Clubs win appeal; Messi wants to play
Barcelona to decide Messi fate
German clubs release players for Olympics
Clubs U-Turn Over Olympic Brazilians
Blatter ‘Surprised & Disappointed’
Olympics: CAS steps in to stop players heading to Beijing
Trio wins Olympics appeal
European clubs win Olympic appeal
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