A threat has been made by the European Clubs Association (ECA) to prevent players from representing their country at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, which will take place in Cameroon next January.
The ECA highlighted its worries in a letter to Mattias Grafstrom, the Deputy General Secretary of Fifa, regarding the increasing number of cases of the new form of coronavirus, Omicron, as well as travel limitations imposed by government authorities.
The ECA said that it has classified its concerns into three principles:
"It is the responsibility of each national organisation that intends to call a player to national team duty to ensure that all necessary medical protocols have been executed and enforced to the satisfaction of the respective clubs.
In the second instance, there cannot be a required release in circumstances where the duration of the release term would require players to miss official club matches.
For the avoidance of doubt, the unavailability of players for club activities cannot exceed the agreed-upon release periods."
The European clubs, on the other hand, say that the Caf has not met the principles, and that this could prevent them from releasing their players this month.
According to a portion of the ECA's letter, "In light of these considerations, please be advised that, at its meeting in December 2021, the ECA Executive Board unanimously re-affirmed its position that the three principles referred to above must be strictly observed and, should this not be the case, that players not be released for national team duty."
In the current state of affairs, these three principles are in danger of not being observed in connection with the planned January releases.
To our knowledge, Caf has not yet made available a proper medical and operational plan for the Afcon event, and clubs will not be able to release players for the tournament till this is done."
"For certain clubs expected to release players, including English and French clubs, domestic competition matches are scheduled to take place up until early January, making the overlap between the 2022 Afcon release dates (with call ups beginning on December 27th) and domestic competition matches unmanageable."
In addition, after meeting with the country's Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Mouelle Kombi, on Wednesday, December 15, the newly-elected head of the Cameroonian Football Federation (Fecafoot), Samuel Eto'o, refuted rumours that the Afcon tournament might be postponed.
It has been confirmed by Samuel Eto'o that complete preparations are on for the event, which will begin on January 9.