FIFA stand firm on compensation

FIFA officials maintain no compensation will be paid to clubs who release players for international duty.

Speaking at the Soccerex conference in Dubai yesterday, a spokesman for football’s world governing body said it was not FIFA’s responsibility to fund Europe’s clubs when their players play for their country.

Chelsea director Paul Smith and Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd were among those who said the time had come when clubs had to be rewarded for loaning out their highly paid employees.

“We loan them out and they come back injured,” Smith said. “That is not logical by any stretch of the imagination.”

FIFA spokesman Markus Siegler stressed that a vast percentage of World Cup profits are ploughed back into the game and that the clubs should not complain about their prized assets appearing in the internationals.