Blatter says CAS ruling puts tournament in danger

[August 07, 2008]  BEIJING (AP) -- The Olympic football tournament is in danger of being undermined by a court ruling that allows clubs to keep players out of the Beijing Games, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said Thursday.

Blatter launched an angry diatribe at the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled Wednesday that Argentina forward Lionel Messi and Brazilians Diego and Rafinha can be stopped from playing in the Olympics by their European clubs.

"I gulped when I heard that decision," Blatter said at the International Olympic Committee general assembly. "It's a rather dramatic situation."

He said he feared the ruling would have a "snowball effect," prompting other clubs to withdraw their players from the Olympics and force them to return.

"If all the national squads will lose players, if clubs force them to return home, we simply will not have an Olympic football tournament here in Beijing," Blatter said. "We could do beach soccer or a five-a-side tournament. That would be very sad and the world would not understand it."

"We cannot have players who have been entered in the football tournament in accordance with all the rules, we can't let them go, we can't see them return home," he added. "It's really sad to see such a decision was handed down, putting in danger the entire football tournament."

Blatter suggested some clubs might seek financial compensation to let their players stay at the Olympics.

"Is that Olympic solidarity?" he said.

IOC president Jacques Rogge also expressed concern and urged clubs to observe a "truce" and let their players stay at the Olympics.

"After the games we will take stock of the Olympic football tournament and decide on what measures to take," he said. "In the meantime, we have to manage it in the short term and appeal to the clubs not to withdraw players and allow players who are entered in the football tournament to put their dreams into reality.

"I would like to appeal to the clubs, plead with them to respect this dream. Please observe an Olympic truce for this Olympic football tournament."

Three European clubs -- Messi's FC Barcelona, Rafinha's Schalke and Diego's Werder Bremen -- went to CAS to keep their players out of the Olympics.

Despite the ruling, Messi still wants to play for his country instead of returning to Barcelona, according to Argentina coach Sergio Batista. Barcelona postponed making a decision on whether to demand Messi's return until its coach talked to the star.

Schalke and Werder Bremen later offered to let Rafinha and Diego stay with Brazil for the Olympic tournament.

CAS secretary-general Matthieu Reeb said the three-member panel ruled in favor of the clubs because the Olympic tournament is not on FIFA's match calendar, and because there was no evidence that the football body's executive board obliged the clubs to release the players.

FIFA ruled July 30 that the players must be released for the Olympic tournament because they are under 23.

The men's Olympic football tournament is for players 23 and under, with three exceptions for older players.

Both Barcelona and Schalke are scheduled to play Champions League qualifying matches during the Olympics, and they could lose out on millions of euros (dollars) if they fail to reach the group stage.

[Associated Press; By STEPHEN WILSON]

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