Loyalty enforced by FIFA's rulebook

Clubs are forced to release players for national duty, depriving them of key men at crucial points in the season

One of the beautiful aspects to club soccer in Europe is that it no longer excludes any player on grounds of color, creed, religion or language. If a man can play, then all doors are open to making a fortune at the top of the sport.

But there is a huge caveat to this opportunity, one that can drain a player both physically and mentally.

The Asian Cup is on in Australia this week, and the African Cup of Nations is in Equatorial Guinea. Both last the better part of a month. Both siphon off top players from leading clubs across Europe. And both have priority over the club careers of players.

Why? FIFA says so. It may be just half a year since the World Cup finished, and some mighty fine players have needed a few months to get that tournament in Brazil out of their system and readjust to playing for the clubs that pay their fortunes, many of them located in vastly different climates from equatorial Brazil.

However, all parties knew the terms and conditions when they signed up for this.
Manchester City, for example, knew when it acquired the huge (and hugely talented) Yaya Touré from Barcelona in 2010 to help it win championships in England that he would have to answer the call from his homeland, Ivory Coast, whenever and wherever it came.

Liverpool knew the same with his brother, Kolo Touré.
And when you look at the French, Belgian, Dutch and German clubs that pave the way out of Africa and Asia for gifted youngsters, the end result is always going to be that many of them serve two loyalties.

Olympique Marseille, for example, depends on players from Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Republic of Congo and Togo. Marseille knew that January was coming, along with the continental tournaments, as did West Ham United and Southampton, which both have key players from Africa or Asia.

Under FIFA rules, the priority is non-negotiable. The players must be released by their clubs not simply for however long their team is in the tournament, but, quite properly, for a period of acclimatisation beforehand.

It was, nonetheless, unkind for West Ham to learn last Monday that it could not pick Alex Song, its new inspiration in the midfield, for Tuesday’s FA Cup game against Everton. West Ham, which has had its best start in the Premier League for many a season, already knew that Diafra Sakho and Cheikhou Kouyaté were on their way to join the Senegal team.

But Song was initially left off Cameroon’s roster. Its national team coach, the German Volker Finke, had not selected Song since he was sent off during a game at the World Cup, but he changed his mind when his preferred midfield man, Stéphane Mbia, was injured while playing for his Spanish club, Sevilla. Song subsequently retired from international football to focus on club football.

Again, it happens. Players are human they get hurt, and it is the coach’s prerogative to call upon any replacement he chooses. All this has a knockoff effect around the globe. One reason that Manchester City has delayed the departure of Frank Lampard to join its sister club in New York is that Lampard’s enduring fine play, along with his experience, makes him an invaluable fill-in during the five or so weeks that Yaya Touré will be with Ivory Coast.

Lampard, of course, had a decision to make. He has alienated some folks in the United States by choosing to remain in Manchester until the end of the English season, but put yourself in his shoes.
He will turn 37 in June. He was discarded as a spent force by Chelsea last season, and he has one last shot at winning trophies (not the least of which is the Premier League title) with City before he finally crosses the Atlantic. It’s unfortunate for the Major League Soccer club, but both New York City FC and Manchester City have the same owner, the ruling family of Abu Dhabi.

Be a good chap, Frank, and be all things to all teams.
Lampard now has an inkling of what it must feel like to be wanted in two places at one time, albeit without the national impediment that scores of African and Asian players are experiencing right now.

In the case of the Asian Cup, it is a little weird that the host, Australia, now belongs to a continental association outside its region. But Australia needs the competition and the financial returns it finds in Asia, and FIFA is ever accommodating to such imperatives.

The African Cup, as usual, has its own problems to surmount. Chief among those this time was when Morocco, the intended host country, abandoned the tournament a few months ago.
Morocco cited the Ebola crisis in West Africa as the reason, and rather than postpone the event, the African Confederation punished Morocco and accepted an offer from Equatorial Guinea to step in as host.

This had the minor problem that Guinea had itself been excluded for fielding an ineligible player, a Cameroonian national. However, Equatorial Guinea had three things going for it — the support of its head of state, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the availability of four stadiums and the advantage of being an oil-rich country.

Oil, of course, has dropped in value since that decision was taken. However, Equatorial Guinea it is, though with an inevitable scaling down in size, given that the Batu stadium holds 35,700, while Malabo has capacity for 15,000, Mongomo for 10,000 and Ebebiyin for just 5,000.
This, though, was the only option on the table, outside of abandoning the tournament until Ebola is no longer a threat or whenever the event could be rescheduled.

The Cup has come too far and defeated too many obstacles and doubters to be called off now. The temporary absence of the players from European clubs is the least of Africa’s worries.