UPDATE -  Looks like both Werder Bremen and Schalke have both decided to let Diego and Rafinha stay in China.

WTF is going on?

As our DP brother Ives already hipped you to, the Court of Arbitration of Sport ruled that clubs (ie. Barcelona, Shalke04 and Werder Bremen are the main clubs in the mess as they’re about to start Champions League Qualifiers) may hold out and / or recall players under contract back from China and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

This ruling goes against everything FIFA supposedly wanted, with Sepp Blatter citing the regard for the Olympic spirit being the most important thing for clubs, coaches and management to remember.

According to CAS Secretary General Matthieu Reebut the ruling was made because the Olympics are not set on FIFA’s Match Calendar as the main reason the 3 person panel ruled in favor of clubs.

Looking back at the original statements from the clubs and from FIFA, ones got to wonder if FIFA knew this was the way the chips were going to fall all along as it sure seemed like the clubs were confidant of the final ruling all along and Blatter was reduced to using the word “Spirit”. And in the bigger scheme of things, will FIFA ever make a change to it’s calendar considering you know the starting dates of the Olympics will never change.

(more…)

With all the confusion surrounding the 2008 Olympics, FIFA President Sepp Blatter has released an official statement regarding club’s responsibilities to allow their under contract players that are under 23 years of age to join up with their respective National Teams.

Via FIFA.com

In its official statement, FIFA states that “the principle is that each team can field players until the age of 23. In addition, the teams that qualify for the final tournament have the right to include in their squad three players over the age of 23″. That said, the rights and obligations of the clubs with respect to these two categories are different. “

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DOUBLE UPDATE - Looks like Germany is out of contention if FIFA deems South Africa unable to host the 2010 World Cup after the DFB’s Theo Zwanziger admitted his country could not match the success of the 2006 World Cup.

UPDATE - Looks like our man Sepp is pretty worried about South Africa, especially when FIFA admits to speaking with THREE different Football Associations about the possibilities of hosting the 2010 World Cup on short notice.

“I have spoken to three possible, not only possible, but three associations and countries that would be able to stage the World Cup in one year’s time,” Blatter said in an interview broadcast on Thursday by Sky News. “They need one year (to prepare).”

This is not looking good for either FIFA or South Africa. Can you imagine what South Africa’s going to do if this World Cup is pulled from them after starting construction on four new stadiums throughout the country?

Will South Africa be ready to host the 2009 Confederations Cup, the warm up tournament for all South Africans venues set to host the 2010 World Cup?

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UPDATE -  UEFA Communications Director William Galliard, the special advisor to UEFA President Michel Platini has publicly gone on record regarding FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s use of the “Modern Day Slavery” description when referring to players and their contracts.

“It would be useful to remind people that slaves in all of the slavery systems never earned a wage,” Gaillard told the media.  “It seems that both clubs and players are trying to negotiate an exit before the player is free.”

Well said sir, well said.

It would seem as though FIFA President Sepp Blatter has enough things to worry about before throwing his hat into the Cristiano Ronaldo saga.

With all the talk of Ronaldo heading to Real Madrid in a record breaking transfer, Blatter used Real Madrid’s open courting of Ronaldo as a platform for his belief that a want-away player should be allowed to leave the club he’s signed to, if he desires.

But “modern day slavery?” Come on Sepp.

As Blatter told SkyNews, “The important thing is, we should also protect the player,” the FIFA President said.“If the player wants to play somewhere else, then a solution should be found because if he stays in a club where he does not feel comfortable to play then it’s not good for the player and for the club.

“I’m always in favour of protecting the player and if the player, he wants to leave, let him leave.”

It just never stops with this guy.

What ever happened to honoring contracts that players signed of their own free will, especially when they’re making 120k Pound a week already?

Cristiano Ronaldo’s recovery timetable is now set at a minimum of 12 weeks after undergoing ankle surgery in Amsterdam last week.

The Footballer of the Year has had quite an interesting last couple of months with winning the Premiership Title, Champions League, 2008 Euro’s and the ongoing Real Madrid saga (which for the record he’s said the is no agreement with the La Liga Champions).

If you think about the amount of games Ronaldo has played since last summer (not just for club, but for country as well), it’s surprising that his body hasn’t broken down earlier. Yeah, he took his sweet time getting back to Manchester United about setting a date (three weeks after Portugal’s 3-2 loss to Germany) for his surgery, but the kid deserved to relax with family, friends and his woman after all the self-inflicted drama he put himself through when he decided not to acknowledge the Real Madrid link.

I still don’t agree though with the “Modern day slavery” description that he and Sepp Blatter are playing, especially after Blatter was against the idea of the Andy Webster ruling.

image via Images

 UPDATE - Looks like Sepp’s been shot down once again after the European Union flatly rejected Blatter’s plan for Foreign Player quotas.  The final voting numbers were 518 Against and 49 for.

[Via Soccernet] 

“UEFA says Blatter’s proposal is unworkable in the EU because it contravenes the bloc’s laws on the free movement of workers and could lead to costly legal challenges - a view echoed by the EU assembly.

‘Unfortunately the 6+5 rule is not compatible with the free movement of persons in the EU. The European Treaty is very clear on this point: discrimination on the basis of nationality is not allowed and this also counts for football,’ Belgian MEP Ivo Belet, author of the parliament’s report on the future of professional football, told the assembly. ”

Whether it’s been his decision to investigate on his own or his desire to see Women Internationals in Volleyball shorts, Sepp Blatter has never been one to mix words. But one of his latest plans has drawn some heavy criticism once again.

With a plan to reduce the number of Foreigners in the Barclay’s Premiership, Blatter failed to realize that by trying to force Premiership sides to play at the very least 5 English nationals, he was going against one of the biggest ruling in the history of the game, The Bosman Ruling.

To quote the EU Sports Commission;

“The EU’s employment law holds the principle of freedom of movement of workers, which allows EU soccer players to have equal status regardless of which member nation they played in.”

Back to the drawing board my son, back to the drawing board.

image via AdGoog

During next months FIFA Annual Congress meeting in Sydney, FIFA President Sepp Blatter will seek to bypass UEFA and the European Union labor laws by seeking a “Gentleman’s Agreement” allowing each countries individual national association to govern the amount of Foreigners allowed to play in that countries league and setting their own “Home Grown Rule”.

Too bad he’s gonna need 75% of the 208 members vote to have a chance to change the rules.  How much longer is he going to be in control?

image via NJMG

South Africa will get a test run in the form of the 2009 Confederations Cup.  With kickoff set for June 14th at Port Elizabeth and a stadium that has yet to be completed, Sepp Blatter will definitely find out if South Africa is capable of holding such a huge event.

Host South Africa, World Cup holder Italy and the six regional champions in the form of Iraq, Egypt, United States and Brazil will be fighting for a kitty of $3.75 million to the winner.  $3.25 million will go to the runner-up and the rest receiving $1.4 million for their troubles.

image via SoccerSafari