FIFA to rule on five-day release row

FIFA will rule today on an unprecedented request by seven English clubs to have the FAI's action in implementing the five-day release clause for next Wednesday's European Championship games in Yugoslavia, rendered null and void.

Leeds United, Charlton Athletic, Wimbledon, Blackburn, West Bromwich Albion, Tranmere and Bury have all protested to the English FA who in turn, yesterday referred the matter to FIFA for a decision.

All seven say that the FAI's action is unfair and in some instances illegal and insist that their players should continue to be available to them at the weekend, before joining up with Ireland's senior and under-21 squads.

Acknowledging the receipt of the FA communique, a FIFA spokesman said: "The case has been referred to the bureau of the Players Status Council. It is responsible for dealing with any situation where there is a dispute or uncertainty about a player's availability.

"We are now waiting for their decision on Wednesday. There is no precedent for a case being referred to FIFA."

Charlton, who are faced with the problem of having to replace Mark Kinsella and their Yugoslav goalkeeper, Sasa Ilic, for their meeting with Middlesborough on Saturday, contend that neither the FAI nor the Yugoslav Federation gave them 14 days notice as required by rule, that they would be needing their players this weekend.

"We will not release either player until after our game against Middlesborough," said Charlton's managing director, Peter Varney. "If we complied with the five-day rule, we would be made to suffer for the internal dispute in Yugoslavia and that is hardly fair on either us, as a club or our paying spectators.

"We have been asked to play things strictly by the book, so we will oblige. The players will be able to join up with their respective squads after Saturday's game."

Bernard O'Byrne, the FAI's chief executive, denies that they failed to act within the stipulated time frame. "We were informed by UEFA on October 23rd that the game would be going ahead on November 18th and within five days of getting that information, we wrote to the various clubs telling them that we would be implementing FIFA's five-day rule," he said.

"We were not in a position at that stage to name players for the simple reason that Mick McCarthy hadn't yet selected his team but we are confident FIFA will agree that we acted in the proper manner and rule accordingly."

McCarthy requires his players in Dublin for a training session at Clonshaugh on Saturday afternoon but the bigger factor by far, in his determination to invoke the rule, is the fear of players being injured on club duty at the weekend. And he is prepared to jeopardise the goodwill of club managers in England, rather than go with that risk.

Meanwhile, the Yugoslav football federation (FSJ) said yesterday that it would refuse all pleas by foreign clubs for Yugoslav internationals to be exempted from a Euro 2000 match with Ireland scheduled for November 18th.

"The FSJ's position is clear . . . all players must be in Belgrade by Friday evening," FSJ general secretary Branko Bulatovic said.

"The match with Ireland is extremely important for us, and it would not be fair of us to exempt some players and not others," he said.

Bulatovic said that in the past few days phones were constantly ringing and foreign clubs asking for Yugoslav internationals to be exempted from the game on account of weekend matches in their domestic leagues.

He said even veteran captain Dragan Stojkovic would come all the way from Japan, where he plays for Nagoya Grampus Eight.

Yugoslav coach Milan Zivadinovic will name his squad tomorrow.