Europe’s illegal “decree” on player release for international window; A nightmare for AFCON 2022

The African Cup of Nations (AFCON) is a biannual continental football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), one of the six confederations of the world football governing body, FIFA.

As expected, talks ahead of major football events are often associated with players expected to shine, breakout talents, teams hoping to exert dominance, and the regular heavyweights who stand a chance of
earning the prized silverware. However, the 2022 edition of the AFCON seems to have taken a different turn.

Having originally been scheduled for January 2021 in a new format that prevented a clash with the World Cup in QATAR, the Corona pandemic forced a postponement to January 2022 much to the frustration of
European clubs who have players of African origin within their setup.

On the ground, and amidst the “European frustration” – of releasing their African players for the monthlong tournament-, there’s a daunting task for the 24 participating nations and CAF to pull this off successfully. And also, look on as a fraction of the football fraternity remains adamant on ignoring rules, regulations, and laid down procedures for an international tournament like the AFCON.

ECA’s demands; An attempt to bend the rules
Many African players registered with members of the European Clubs Association (ECA) are yet to join their national teams for the upcoming African Cup of Nations which kicks off on January 9, 2022. Before
the agreed late release after a standoff mediated by FIFA, the ECA is credited with the first major attempt to flout football regulations in a letter it addressed to FIFA. It sought to claim 3 major issues with releasing
players for the January event.

The list requested; “every player’s wellbeing is protected”, “that clubs are not forced to be without players for club competition matches”, and these players must return to their club base after the tournament “in a timely fashion, as per the applicable rules”.

Legally, the ECA’s intent lacked basis and is at best an attempt to introduce its decree into the football ecosystem, and here’s why.

Call ups for international window/dates are mandatory It is mandatory for members of the ECA and all other clubs affiliated to confederations under FIFA to release players for national team assignments on all FIFA approved international dates, and finals of
competitions as stated in article 1, Annex 1 of FIFA RSTP. The AFCON is not an independent tournament, nor is it the Olympic games which may allow for discretionary powers of clubs as established in the CAS arbitration case between FC Schalke 04 v FIFA (CAS 2008/A/1622).

Meanwhile, any agreement between
a player and a club to the contrary is prohibited.
According to the RSTP rules, “for a final competition in the sense of paragraphs 2 and 3 above, players must be released and start the travel to their representative team no later than Monday morning the week preceding the week when the relevant final competition starts and must be released by the association in the morning of the day after the last match of their team in the tournament.”

In the context of January’s African Cup of Nations, players participating in the tournament were expected to be released on December 27th, 2021. Not all went according to this schedule, and many players were
left in limbo as the open disregard for the international protocol waves on.

Meanwhile, the attempt to maintain sanity within the circle of world football has been long established in the RSTP; “violations of any of the provisions outlined in this annex shall result in the imposition of disciplinary measures decided by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee based on the FIFA Disciplinary Code.

In September 2021, The Brazilian Football Association placed a request for FIFA to ban its players after missing out on World Cup qualifiers against Chile, Argentina and Peru.
Per Article 5, Annex 1 of RSTP, “a player who has been called up by his association for one of its representative teams is, unless otherwise agreed by the relevant association, not entitled to play for the club with which he is registered during the period for which he has been released or should have been released under the provisions of this annex, plus an additional period of five days”.

When laws were put to test, it ended up in a make-shift arrangement between the English FA and FIFA, waiving the punishment on the clubs.

Author: Derrick A Okraku, Sports Law Consultant – Sports Law Plus

Suspension of Covid Amendments
Due to the pandemic, the Bureau of the FIFA Council released a temporary amendment for the return of football. These temporary amendments applied to all international windows for men’s football and lasted
until April 2021, nullifying the obligation of clubs to release players for national team assignments within the stated time frame.

The rules relating to the release of players to association teams, as provided for in Annex 1, apply as normal, except where:

i. there is a mandatory period of quarantine or self-isolation of at least five (5) days upon arrival in: a) the location of the club which has an obligation to release the player to an association team; or b) the location
where a representative team match is scheduled to take place; or

ii. there is a travel restriction to or from either location (a. or b. above) and iii. a specific exemption from the relevant authorities relating to the above decisions has not been granted to players of a representative team For context, under FIFA’s given timeframe for the temporary changes, the international window for players honoring call ups with national teams under CAF moved from 9 to 16 days after an extension of 7 days.

The number of games that could be played within these dates also increased from 2 to 4. However, as briefed above, these sets of temporary amendments are no longer valid for the current period and therefore remain inapplicable as being implied by the ECA. A bargain, CAF’s only way out.

It would be extreme to defend the direction of the ECA on its stance on the subject of eligibility for the AFCON. In the attempt to demand “players’ wellbeing and return in a timely fashion”, it keeps scheming
around the existing rules.

In July, UEFA hosted the Euros across 11 major cities and “lived in peace with the virus”. The 2021/22 season league matches are rarely suspended even where players and officials have tested positive to the virus and makes mockery of the “protection” the ECA claims to prioritize.

Indeed, the presence of a new variant of the virus makes way for revised measures to maintain safety but the ECA’s stance is based on the need to have players play for their clubs at the expense of the national team and mildly puts it as the need “that clubs are not forced to be without players for club competition
matches”. With the current RSTP rules, the mandatory obligation of the 12 days release rule before the start of the tournament was applicable and the attempt to use “omicron wave” and travel restrictions are
unlawful. If there’s any way around this, FIFA may have to reintroduce temporary amendments where necessary.

Meanwhile, FIFA’s latest release on the subject seems to suggest that the clubs, despite coming under the letterhead of the World League Forum- just managed to squeeze a decree down the throat of the
continent’s football governing body with just 6 days to kick off the tournament at the Olembe stadium in Yaounde. This has seen the cancellation of several pre-tournament friendlies with empty and uneven
training camps.

Clubs now have permission to keep players until January 3 and this according to FIFA was a decision “taken in a spirit of goodwill and solidarity with the clubs concerned given the fact that they have been affected
by the upsurge in Covid cases”.