The controversy surrounding the release of CONEMBOL player for international duty continues, with LaLiga calling for precautionary measures to be put in place and preventing players from joining up with their national teams.
The main problem is that changes in the international calendar have seen CONEMBOL dates extended by two days, while the same has not happened in UEFA competition, for example, meaning that clubs with South American players could stand to lose their stars for domestic fixtures.
Until the situation has been resolved, LaLiga has vowed not to allow the release of any CONEMBOL players called up by their countries as they feel the extension of the fixture dates impinges on the integrity of competition in Spain. Other leagues, such as the Premier League, Ligue 1 and Serie A have also made their concerns heard.
LaLiga released a statement on Thursday outlining its position and stating that the affected clubs are in complete agreement.
“LaLiga met this morning with the clubs affected by FIFA’s two-day extension of the CONMEBOL international match calendar in both September and October 2021, a move in clear detriment to the integrity of LaLiga and its competition,” read the statement on LaLiga’s website.
“Other confederations such as UEFA and CONCACAF have not extended their match calendar despite scheduling the same number of matches (three), working to fit in three international rounds of matches in a maximum of ten days in order to avoid disrupting domestic league competitions.
“During the meeting, unanimous agreement was reached to initiate precautionary measures before the appropriate judicial bodies in order to protect the rights and interests of the competition and the affected clubs.”
As well as taking legal action to protect its interests, LaLiga confirmed that all clubs affected by the sitution are committed to blocking their CONEMBOL players from travelling to join their national teams until the situation has been satisfactorily resolved.
“Clubs have also agreed to communicate to their players called up by CONMEBOL nations that they will not be permitted to travel and join up for international duty until the situation and current impasse is resolved,” says the LaLiga statement.
“LaLiga will hold further meetings with affected clubs in the coming days with the aim of resolving this problematic situation generated by FIFA.”
Below is a provisional list of the affected players in LaLiga:
Brazil: Casemiro, Eder Militao (Real Madrid) and Matheus Cunha (Atletico).
Chile: Claudio Bravo (Betis), Tomas Alarcon (Cadiz) and Enzo Roco (Elche).
Uruguay: Ronald Araujo (Barcelona), Luis Suarez, Jose Maria Gimenez (Atletico), Fede Valverde (Real Madrid), Mauro Arambarri (Getafe) and Maxi Gomez (Valencia).
Paraguay: Omar Alderete (Valencia) and Santiago Arzamendia (Cadiz).
Venezuela: Alexander Gonzalez (Malaga) and Darwin Machis (Granada).
Argentina: Gonzalo Montiel, Marcos Acuna and Papu Gomez (Sevilla), Angel Correa and Rodrigo de Paul (Atletico), Geronimo Rulli and Juan Foyth (Villarreal), and Guido Rodriguez and German Pezzella (Real Betis).
Peru: Luis Abraham (Granada) and Renato Tapia (Celta).
Ecuador: Pervis Estupinan (Villarreal).
If CONEMBOL and the national teams had their way, taking advantage of the FIFA approved dates, the above players would miss the fourth matchday of LaLiga Santander.
