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France, Roos defy one-player edict
By Michael Cockerill

An outraged Soccer Australia will ignore an audacious attempt by world body FIFA to interfere in team selection ahead of the prestige friendly between the Socceroos and world champions France. In a move which caught everyone by surprise, FIFA general secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen sent the French and Australian federations a letter this week "strongly recommending" they select no more than one player a club for the November11 match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. FIFA's interference follows a petition signed by 11 major European clubs asking that the match either be cancelled or switched to a European venue. The petition ringleaders, Chelsea and Arsenal, have several French players on their books, as do Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Real Madrid. The match is on a weekend set aside for such fixtures and players would not miss any league fixtures for their clubs.

While FIFA's "compromise" proposal - thought to have been engineered by president Sepp Blatter - is unlikely to have any bearing on the composition of the Australian squad, it has potential to reshape the touring party. Soccer Australia chairman Ian Knop stressed yesterday that he would ignore FIFA's edict. And French federation general secretary Gerard Enault told his counterpart Ian Holmes last night: "[Coach] Roger Lemerre selects our national team, not FIFA or the English clubs. We will be bringing our strongest team."

The game is Australia's only-lead-up to the two-match World Cup play-offs later in the month. "We will not compromise on the selection of our national team at such a critical stage of our World Cup campaign," Knop said. "This is not negotiable and on this point we will be unmoved, unbending and unyielding. Soccer Australia has a responsibility to the public, to the fans who have bought tickets, to have the best teams available. "FIFA has no legal basis upon which to make this request. They are being unfair and unreasonable. This proposal is an unprecedented attempt to interfere in a commercial relationship between two national bodies. FIFA is duty-bound to represent the best interests of the game, but ... they have clearly abrogated that principle. "Once again they want to play us off because Australia doesn't matter, Oceania doesn't matter. Well, we do. The board of Oceania and the board of Soccer Australia have had enough."

Whether all the players selected will agree to come to Australia, however, is another matter, with Roma defender Vincent Candela and Leeds midfielder Olivier Dacourt both intimating they would rather be excused. However, both are only fringe members of the French team. The Socceroos have six players conceivably affected by FIFA's directive - Leeds United pair Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka, Rangers teammates Craig Moore and Tony Vidmar, and Middlesbrough's Paul Okon and Mark Schwarzer. However, Leeds have already made it clear they will release Kewell and Viduka. "We don't want to cause any problems or offence," chairman Peter Ridsdale told the Herald. "We will consult with Soccer Australia and the players and do the right thing. We are not going to get involved in whether it's one or two players."

Kewell's manager, Bernie Mandic, said the striker would definitely play. "Harry will be here, 100 per cent," he said. Socceroo captain Paul Okon remains confident all the Australian players will return for the game. "You don't know what pressure the clubs will be putting on the players, but they all want to come. If this affects anyone, hopefully it won't be Australia." Coach Frank Farina is equally convinced his full squad will assemble as scheduled. "This is directed more at France than Australia," he said. "Having said that, what FIFA has done is laughable. The major clubs are running the game and FIFA are being bullied and pushed around. But the fact is, they can't pick anyone's national team, whether they like it or not." Oceania Football Confederation president Basil Scarsella agreed: "Team selection is, in my view, sacrosanct. FIFA should not get involved, they don't have the power to get involved."
[ emphasis added ] www.smh.com.au/news/0110/25/sport/sport7.html

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Australian soccer held in contempt
By David Lewis

FIFA president Sepp Blatter showed his contempt for Australian soccer yesterday by attempting to turn next month's key World Cup warm-up with France into a farce. The 64-year-old former watch-maker from Switzerland wound up the emotions of Australian officials and players by buckling to the whims of the rich European clubs who want a quota on the number of players released for the showpiece MCG match on November 11. In a letter to Soccer Australia and the French Football Federation signed by his underling Michel Zen-Ruffinen, ageing autocrat Blatter "strongly recommended" the French and Australians call up only one player per club. Blatter's intervention is the direct result of pressure exerted by an Arsenal-led 11-strong coalition of clubs unwilling to release players.

If put into practice, it could mean Australia having to choose between Leeds-based Mark Viduka or Harry Kewell or Middlesbrough's Mark Schwarzer and Paul Okon. It would also guillotine the French team with Arsenal alone boasting four Gallic stars. SA Chairman Ian Knop and acting chief executive Ian Holmes were withering in their dismissal of Blatter's patter. "FIFA has no legal basis for its request," said Knop. "Their motto is 'for the good of the game' but they have clearly abrogated that principle here. We've been bullied and we've had enough. FIFA think they can just kick us around and that we don't matter. Well, we do. "We won't be a part of a deception to rob the public of the chance to see the players they have paid good money to watch. There's no room for negotiation. We're unmoved, unbending and unyielding."

So, too, are the French with Gerard Enault, general secretary of the French Football Federation, last night declaring: "We do not accept FIFA's letter. Roger Lemerre (French coach) selects our team, not FIFA or the English clubs. We'll be sending our strongest possible team." Socceroo coach Frank Farina was equally dismissive of FIFA's tactics. "It's a laughable and ludicrous suggestion which is hard to take seriously, let alone accept," he said. "It's not going to happen because it goes against everything FIFA are meant to stand for and they would end up looking so silly. "I'm amazed they actually sent such a letter. It's absolutely crazy."

France's line-up would be decimated by the plan with Thiery Henry, Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires and Sylvain Wiltord based at Arsenal, Fabien Barthez and Mikael Silvestre at Manchester United, Emmanuel Petit and Marcel Desailly at Chelsea and Lilian Thuram and David Trezeguet at Juventus. The sentiments of both Knop and Farina were amplified by Holmes who let the vitriol run free in his condemnation of FIFA and London club Arsenal. "It's scandalous folly by FIFA and an outrageous act of malevolence by arrogant and Eurocentric clubs, in particular Arsenal and its deputy chairman David Dein," he said. "They forget Australia is no longer a penal colony subservient to some decaying feudal empire. Who runs the game, FIFA or the clubs?"

Holmes also called for the resignation of Dein from his post as deputy chairman of the English FA. The cracks in the French squad have already surfaced with Real Madrid's Zinedine Zidane and Chelsea's Desailly unwilling to travel while Roma's Vincent Candela has already ruled himself out. The French squad is expected to be named on Tuesday.
[emphasis added ] www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,3116798%255E2771,00.html

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To be perfectly honest, I think FIFA should just let Australia into the World Cup without having to play another play-off. Hell, they won their group...why shouldn't they go. Who needs another South American team in the comp !!

when the finals were increased to 24 teams we were told that Oceania would qualify direct (Europe and South America wouldn't miss out as there were more places to go 'round), as Oceania would be a recognised Confederation and the winner of the group (the winner of a whole confederation nonetheless) wouldn't need to play off against every man and his dog to qualify, in a sudden death match over two legs .. everyone else qualified in a round-robin where team spirit was developed and the team could lose a game here and there and still qualify, as top of the group (in some groups the top 2 actually qualify)

if anyone's got the time, and the energy, go through the last 30 years and you'll see the Oceania group winner playing off all over the globe e.g. in 86 against Scotland, 90 against Israel, 94 against Argentina, 98 against Iran, and the ones before that I don't remember

FIFA will remember this current debacle and, rest assured, the Oceania Football Confederation will 'pay' for our outbursts downhere over the last 2 days, we're all expecting it, and no doubt NZ and the pacific nations are too .. the question is how they'll 'repay' France, the current world champions (1998) and #1 ranked football nation in the world

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Subject: Australia v France in Melbourne

Attention: FIFA Media

just a short note to express my extreme disappointment at the news we received downhere in our newspapers that FIFA has recommended Australia and France limit themselves to one player from a club ... we are trying to prepare for the final two-leg qualifying match, and France as automatic qualifiers need all the games they can get ... I have tried to find this on your website, but cannot locate it ... can you please direct me to it as I would like to see the actual words of the press release

secondly, please do not change the dates of the two-leg play-off against the 5th place team from South America ... we're getting enough bad news about our attempts to prepare and qualify for the Finals, and don't need any more

look forward to hearing from you,

George T.........
Sydney, Australia

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Dear Sir,

Thank you for your e-mail and comments regarding the above-mentioned topics. We would like to address these issues as follows:

As the governing football body FIFA has to bear in mind the interests of its 204 national associations as well as those of players and clubs. This is a rather difficult task especially so in the club vs. country controversies. In this respect FIFA attempts to propose compromise solutions in order to avoid that bridges are burnt too fast and thus the relationship between all parties concerned is destroyed in the long run.

It is against this background that FIFA's recommendation to Australia and France to pick only one player per club must be seen. It was labelled as a recommendation and intended for internal discussion between the FA's and FIFA. The associations were also asked to provide their point of view. Both Australia and France in the meantime refused the proposal as not being acceptable to them. For this reason, FIFA will have to make a ruling. This will be done early next week and will be communicated to the associations in the first place and also via our usual channels, including of course FIFA.com.

Regarding the upcoming play-off matches, the Bureau of the FIFA World Cup Organising Committee is to deal with the matter of the dates for these two matchs in the week of 29 October to 2 November. Here again, the interests of the associations involved but also the regulations will be duly considered.

Summing up, FIFA would like to clearly state that contrary to the criticism and allegations levelled against our organisation, it will maintain its impartiality in all matters. FIFA is committed to the promotion of the game throughout the world and will continue to do so in accordance with its Statutes. The revised regulations regarding the status of football players that also include the release of players for national team duty as well as the harmonized international calendar will certainly help to alleviate this situation.

We trust that you will find this of use to you.

Yours sincerely,

FIFA
Andreas Herren
Head of Media Department
Communications Division

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Zürich, 30 October 2001 - Australia and France will be allowed to select the players according to the applicable regulations for their upcoming friendly match on 11 November in Australia.

FIFA General Secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen confirmed this by fax today to the two associations stating: "FIFA has come to the conclusion that the applicable regulations have to be implemented. Therefore we herewith confirm that in accordance with Article 36 and following of the FIFA Transfer Regulations, the clubs requested to release players for this match should compulsory do so (unless the maximum number of matches for which these players have to be released for the civil year 2001, as specified in the applicable FIFA Regulations, has already been reached).

"In this respect, the Players' Status Committee will be asked at its meeting on Wednesday, 31 October, to reconfirm what this maximum number is for 2001 in view of the change of Regulations effected last month and of various questions received from clubs in this respect."

The confirmation came after the Australian and French associations had earlier indicated that they were not in a position to accept FIFA's recommendation to follow certain restrictions regarding the selection of players for the friendly match.

In the interim, the French Football Federation informed FIFA that they have taken steps to ensure that the players' travel to Australia will benefit from the best conditions possible (such as sleeper seats, appropriately scheduled flights, relaxation on board etc.), so as to take into account the concern of the clubs regarding the players' health.
www.fifa.com/Service/MR_M/31612_E.html

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[ 11-01-2001: Message edited by: gtho4 ]

Business men and lawyers (separate class don't ya know) routinely get sleeper seats paid for them on lengthy flights. Soccer players with absolutely massive pockets and clubs and countries with even larger pockets don't ordinarily send their athletes by sleeper seat?

What the heck is that?

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Originally posted by TemplarLLM:
sleeper seat?

What the heck is that?

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I believe it's the club car that both Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka are given at Leeds!

Trouble is, they're still inside it when 3 O'Clock comes around on a Saturday afternoon!

Absolutley No Offence Intended whatsoever.........(much!) LOL.

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The executive committee of soccer's ruling body, FIFA, ratified the decision by the six regional confederations to grant the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) a full berth for the first time when it met today to decide the makeup of the 32-team tournament in Germany.
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The decision will finally give Australia the chance to pit a full strength team including the likes of Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka and Mark Schwarzer against the world's best on the biggest stage.
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In previous years, Oceania has had half a berth, forcing its champion to a cut-throat home and away play-off against a low ranked nation from a tougher confederation to reach the finals. After easily winning the Oceania qualifying, Australia fell at the final hurdle in the last three campaigns - losing to South America's fifth team Argentina for the 1994 tournament, Asia's fourth ranked nation Iran for 1998 and again to South America's fifth side, Uruguay, for 2002.
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Oceania has only been represented at the World Cup finals twice, by Australia in 1974 and New Zealand in 1982. The 11-member OFC was given full status by FIFA in 1998 but remained the only confederation not to have at least one automatic berth at the World Cup finals.

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