Club v country issue must be sorted, says Kenyon

CHELSEA chief executive Peter Kenyon wants football’s governing bodies to meet with clubs and thrash out a solution to the perennial club versus country debate.

Kenyon, speaking to delegates at a high-powered Soccerex business convention yesterday, addressed a variety of topics as a member of the Global Club Panel, including the next Premiership television rights deal and Chelsea's exclusion from the G14 collective of top European clubs.

The continuing tension between clubs and their national associations over the release of players for international matches is the hottest subject of all. It has come to a head in the law courts where Belgium club Charleroi, backed by G14, is suing world governing body FIFA for compensation for the eight-month loss of one of its players, Abdelmajid Oulmers, injured on World Cup qualifying duty for Morocco.