Sepp Blatter: Country always outweighs club
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Sepp Blatter: Country always outweighs club
Country always outweighs club
By Joseph S Blatter
Published: January 7 2004 4:00
"There's no greater honour in football than playing for your country, whether it's in the African Nations Cup, European Championship or the Fifa World Cup. It's just as important for Freddie [Kanouté] to play for Mali as it is for David Beckham to play for England or Ronaldo to play for Brazil."
This is not a Fifa statement, but I fully agree with its author - Mark Fish, the South African who plays for Charlton Athletic.
He made the remarks in the context of the decision by Kanouté, a former French Under-21 international, who is likely to play for Mali in the forthcoming African Nations Cup and to take a leave of absence of several weeks from his club, Tottenham Hotspur.
This decision has proved controversial to say the least. But it should not be. Premiership clubs have benefited greatly from the use of African players such as Jay-Jay Okocha, Kanu and Geremi. It cannot be acceptable to recruit such stars and then demand that they show disrespect to their countries if a tournament or international fixture clashes with Premiership matches - particularly if they are part of the international co-ordinated calendar.
It is perfectly irrelevant, given new Fifa rules on the matter which came into effect this month, that Kanouté has in the past played in another country's colours. The point is he did not play for the A team. His case should be crystal clear: there would be nothing to stop him playing for Mali, once the players' status committee has confirmed his eligibility, if that is what he wants to do.
Given the expanding role of African - and increasingly also Asian - players in English football, it is high time managers and coaches, shareholders and owners understood that the Premier League is only one string in their players' bows. The opportunity to represent their country in a major tournament outweighs all honours a club league can offer. This is something that the ominous G-14, the grouping of the richest European clubs, should bear in mind. After all, some of those clubs are among the main buyers of talent who embark on spending sprees in Africa (and Asia) but then "forget" that the players they bought are men with opinions, and not children.
Kanu, Joseph Yobo, Celestine Babayaro, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Amdy Faye, Geremi, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Salomon Olembe, Lomana Tresor LuaLua, Frédéric Kanouté, Jay-Jay Okocha, El-Hadji Diouf, Salif Diao, Aliou Cissé, Henri Camara, Lamine Sakho and Mbulelo Mabizela . . .virtually every player whose nation has qualified and who is not injured or retired from international football has decided to play in the African Nations Cup. What, I wonder, is hard to understand about those decisions?
Club managers and coaches would be well advised not only to observe international rules, but to stop trying to obstruct players' legitimate rights. Fifa will always defend those rights, even when adopting such a stance makes us unpopular.
The writer is president of Fifa
By Joseph S Blatter
Published: January 7 2004 4:00
"There's no greater honour in football than playing for your country, whether it's in the African Nations Cup, European Championship or the Fifa World Cup. It's just as important for Freddie [Kanouté] to play for Mali as it is for David Beckham to play for England or Ronaldo to play for Brazil."
This is not a Fifa statement, but I fully agree with its author - Mark Fish, the South African who plays for Charlton Athletic.
He made the remarks in the context of the decision by Kanouté, a former French Under-21 international, who is likely to play for Mali in the forthcoming African Nations Cup and to take a leave of absence of several weeks from his club, Tottenham Hotspur.
This decision has proved controversial to say the least. But it should not be. Premiership clubs have benefited greatly from the use of African players such as Jay-Jay Okocha, Kanu and Geremi. It cannot be acceptable to recruit such stars and then demand that they show disrespect to their countries if a tournament or international fixture clashes with Premiership matches - particularly if they are part of the international co-ordinated calendar.
It is perfectly irrelevant, given new Fifa rules on the matter which came into effect this month, that Kanouté has in the past played in another country's colours. The point is he did not play for the A team. His case should be crystal clear: there would be nothing to stop him playing for Mali, once the players' status committee has confirmed his eligibility, if that is what he wants to do.
Given the expanding role of African - and increasingly also Asian - players in English football, it is high time managers and coaches, shareholders and owners understood that the Premier League is only one string in their players' bows. The opportunity to represent their country in a major tournament outweighs all honours a club league can offer. This is something that the ominous G-14, the grouping of the richest European clubs, should bear in mind. After all, some of those clubs are among the main buyers of talent who embark on spending sprees in Africa (and Asia) but then "forget" that the players they bought are men with opinions, and not children.
Kanu, Joseph Yobo, Celestine Babayaro, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Amdy Faye, Geremi, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Salomon Olembe, Lomana Tresor LuaLua, Frédéric Kanouté, Jay-Jay Okocha, El-Hadji Diouf, Salif Diao, Aliou Cissé, Henri Camara, Lamine Sakho and Mbulelo Mabizela . . .virtually every player whose nation has qualified and who is not injured or retired from international football has decided to play in the African Nations Cup. What, I wonder, is hard to understand about those decisions?
Club managers and coaches would be well advised not only to observe international rules, but to stop trying to obstruct players' legitimate rights. Fifa will always defend those rights, even when adopting such a stance makes us unpopular.
The writer is president of Fifa
Last edited by Vincent. on Wed Jan 07, 2004 3:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Here is your link:lagos777 wrote:limk please
?
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServe ... 5677866454
Do you mind elaborating?Paveman wrote:Sepp Blatter. What a farce. He says one thing and he does the complete opposite. Hypocrite!
I think the man has done a lot to protect non-European countries in FIFA, particularly African countries.
For this, the European press and the UEFA ran a smear campaign against him during the FIFA presidential election.
Yes, some of his wishes/promises have not always come true. But, then, he will not always get his wishes because FIFA is not a one-man organization (for example, it took only one man to prevent Africa from hosting the 2006 World Cup despite Blatter's promise).