A decision that makes sense. But that had to be formalized. “In view of the current situation regarding the Covid-19, the FIFA Council Bureau decided today that the general rules which normally require clubs to make their players available to the national teams will not apply to the next international windows of March / April, “ said the high authority of world football. Players will therefore be left at the disposal of their clubs to avoid unnecessary displacement of populations during this epidemic period. FIFA also invokes the principle of fairness. “The holding of matches could not only present risks to the health of players (and the general public), but also significantly compromise the sporting integrity of these matches to the extent that certain teams could be deprived of their best elements and others are not. “
In its communication, the International Federation of Association Football goes further and recommends the outright postponement of all international friendly matches or counting for the qualifications of the various international competitions. “In order to avoid any unnecessary health risk as well as potential sporting injustices, we therefore recommend that all the international matches initially scheduled for March and April be postponed until they can take place in a safe and secure environment, both for players than for the general public. The final decision in this regard rests with the organizers of the respective competitions or the member associations concerned in the event of friendly matches. “ The authority specifies that it will study thereafter the possibilities of rescheduling any postponed match.
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