This summer’s Women’s World Cup has been embroiled in a major club vs country row after the European Club Association released a statement insisting players will be unable to join up with their national teams until just 10 days before the start of the tournament in Australia and New Zealand.
The European Club Association (ECA), whose members include clubs in England’s Women’s Super League, says it has “serious concerns” that players are not being given enough time to rest after the domestic season and will seek to “strictly adhere” to Fifa’s mandatory release period of July 10.
The news could come as a significant blow to England’s preparations, with the Lionesses having planned to meet up for their World Cup camp at St George’s Park several weeks before then in June. Sarina Wiegman had hoped for the Lionesses to have a send-off match in England in early July before arriving in Australia on July 7.
The women’s domestic season is set to conclude with the Champions League final on June 3 and the ECA wants there to be enough time for players to rest before the World Cup and the start of the 2023-24 season. The ECA says the protection of players’ health and wellbeing is a “priority”, with injuries currently a major issue in the women’s game.
England captain Leah Williamson has been ruled out of the tournament after rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament, with her Arsenal team-mates Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema also set to miss the World Cup due to serious knee injuries. England defender Lucy Bronze was the latest player to have an injury scare, with the Barcelona right back set to miss two weeks after undergoing keyhole surgery on her knee.
The postponement of the Women’s Euros to 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic means leading players are facing five consecutive summers of major international tournaments, following the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and with the World Cup in 2023, the Olympics in 2024, and the next Euros in 2025.
“This is not a matter of financial compensation or the absence of adequate protection and insurance, but a serious concern for player welfare,” said Claire Bloomfield, the ECA’s head of women’s football.
“The issue of early call-ups is a hangover from the game in its amateur form and is detrimental to the future success and growth of women’s football. They also generate a great deal of unnecessary tension in the relationship between clubs and their players.
“We were given a very clear mandate by our member clubs which includes engaging in constructive and direct communication with our key stakeholders and partners, and this will be our focus in the coming days.”
A statement from the ECA said: “ECA is concerned about the volume of alerts from our member clubs on the current widespread practice of national associations (NAs) calling up players for international duty for the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup outside of the mandatory release periods as established in the Fifa International Match Calendar (IMC).
“Following extensive consultation within ECA, European clubs will seek to strictly adhere to the mandatory release period and request that the rules governing the release of players to their national teams to be respected ahead of the tournament.
“The Fifa Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players clearly states that the mandatory release period for the final competition of a tournament commences on the ‘Monday morning of the week preceding the week when the relevant final competition starts’.
“Given that the tournament kicks off on 20 July, the mandatory release period for the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup therefore commences on 10 July.
“With players being called ahead of this date, in some instances as early as May, there will be insufficient time for adequate rest before the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup begins and upon its conclusion as clubs prepare for the 2023/24 season.
“This lack of rest which results from early call-ups evidently contravenes the protection of players’ health and wellbeing which ECA believes shall always be a priority.
“ECA reiterates its full support for the importance of international duty and of national team competitions and especially the Fifa Women’s World Cup, but also insists that all stakeholders respect the principles upon which this duty rests.
“In light of the reinforced relationship between Fifa and ECA following the signing of the recent Memorandum of Understanding until 2030, ECA will seek to collaborate Fifa in working with the NAs on not requiring the presence of a player before the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup mandatory release period starts.”
