The GNL was originally part of a package with the new CWC. I like the idea of a GNL finals - say 16 countries playing one-off knock out matches with the finalists playing no more than four games over two weeks - in odd years. It would also "rescue" those countries - especially the SA ones which don't qualify for the WC - from endless friendlies (for example, the five SA teams which did not qualify for Russia 2018 played their first competitive game since October 2017 at this month's Copa America)
Senior male players need vacation time, though. It would be risky to expose them to injury due to tournament fatigue, if you add Olympic Games to their calendar. UEFA clubs are justifiably opposed to lending players for Olympic Games because COI does not pay injury compensation. UEFA clubs hold a monopoly over senior male players from around the world. The picture is different with senior female players. Looking at non-European female squads, very few senior players are employed by UEFA clubs. UEFA does not care if non-European players are injured in Olympic Games.
I'm okay with it expanding to 16 for Women, but I don't think either gender will ever get larger than that. The Olympics lasts two weeks, which is under half the length of a World Cup, and because soccer requires more rest in between games than sports like basketball and hockey, soccer already starts before the Opening Ceremony. In 2016, Women's Soccer started on August 3, Men's Soccer started on August 4, and the Opening Ceremony was on August 5. One possible problem with expansion is how many stadiums are available. The group stage has 24 men's games and 18 women's games for a total of 42. If the limit is 4 per day, that's at least 11 days, and three knockout rounds are played after that. I don't know about hockey, but basketball already has confederations. FIBA Americas includes every country in Concacaf (I hate that Concacaf stopped using all-capitals for an acronym, but that's what they did) and CONMEBOL.
True but there appears to be no strict rule to when Olympic tournaments can start. I believe the football tournaments already kicks-off a couple of days before the Opening Ceremony. Theoretically they could push that forward another couple of days. The only thing you wouldn't want is for teams to start getting eliminated before the Opening Ceremony, especially in the women's tournament.
Very bizarre statements. First of all, FIFA does not pay a single dime if an international superstar that plays for UEFA club (giant or not) gets injured. Secondly, UEFA clubs do not hold monopoly at all over senior male players. The rules are simple - whenever there is no FIFA date any club in the universe can use their players, whenever there is FIFA date any club in the universe should release their players that are called by National team coaches. UEFA clubs are no different than anybody else in this regard. Do UEFA clubs like national call ups? Of course not! Can they do something about it? Nope.
But are the Olympics an official FIFA break? The Olympics would be a bit more disruptive than your average int'l tournament because they don't usually take place at the more convenient and regular time (i.e. mid-June to mid-July).
True, it is the national FA's that pays the compensation. Of course that money comes from the money they get from FIFA so it's not much of a difference but yes, technically you are correct.
Bizarre indeed: 7.5M euros as maximum compensation per injured player, for a 365-day period. Called "FIFA Club Protection Programme", it compensates clubs for prolonged injury sustained during FIFA international matches. It does not cover injuries lasting less than 28 days. FIFA compensation is paid directly to clubs, not through national associations as @Thezzaruz claimed. It is club salary insurance after injury, which is different from FIFA prize money. FIFA extended its club protection program to cover players participating in the 2016 Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee is not in the business of football club insurance. If you read that FIFA bulletin, you will understand that players are still under club contract, even during vacation from club season. Rules are simple: without club permission, a player would be in breach of contract. Secondly, UEFA holds a monopoly over national team squads: 736 players were in the 2018 WC rosters, 544 players (73.9%) had contracts with UEFA clubs. You can see why UEFA opposes additional international tournaments.
Clubs can refuse to let players go if they are "injured", but they would not be able to use them in games they play. Now, Federations would want to bring the players in so their doctors can check them out. But in reality if the club refuses to let the player go (and the player is ok with it) then FIFA can't do much about it.
Panamericanos Games started today. Eight u22 male squads are present, but only six remain for future u23 Olympic qualifiers. - Concacaf brought 4 reps: HON, JAM, MEX, PAN. Only HON and MEX are still running towards Tokyo 2020. - Conmebol sent 4 reps: ARG, ECU, PER, URU. All are up for Olympic qualifiers during next January. Today's results: PAN - MEX: 0-0 ECU - ARG: 2-3 JAM - HON: 1-3 PER - URU: to start in the next 15 minutes. TV broadcasts are available on various South American TV channels. ESPN and Marca Claro have digital streams available. Claro can be watched on youtube.com, but needs a VPN from outside of Mexico.
Going back to this... ...Colombia has called up a player from Orlando City's roster for the first U23 training camp. So as I said, Colombia will try and call up any player in any league (not just domestic) as long as the club gives them permission. It helps a lot that MLS is not in session in January.
Probably not on too many people’s mind during the international break, but CAF Olympic qualifiers are taking place in the form of the CAF U23 Championship. The group stage is over. The three Olympic teams will come from these four: Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and South Africa. From recollection, South Africa was in Rio and Egypt was in London. I don’t feel like checking right now if Ghana or the Ivory Coast have qualified for the Olympics in recent memory. I know they have definitely missed out on the last two editions at least.
Ivory Coast played in Beijing. I remember because they played Argentina and Messi scored against them. Ghana in 2004.
Our federation doesn't plan. This was a FIFA window, and South Africa and Ivory Coast called up some talent who play for their full team. Nigeria has a very stacked U23 team right now, but they are all on the full team playing AFCON qualifiers. Even with that we had a bunch of top quality U23 guys who were not called up to the full national squad who were also not called up to this tournament, because the first game of the group and the final (had we made it that far) are outside of FIFA dates. We could have called them, sealed qualification to olympics and had our players return to their clubs. It sucks we will miss Olympics because we really could have our best olympic team since we won in 1996. Oh well I think Olympics has lost a lot of its prestige it once had.
I was watching Nigeria highlights today and that Osimhen kid looks pretty solid. It will help you guys out in the long run that he plays at the Senior level. He belongs there in qualifying and I am sure the other youngsters do too.
yeah Osimehn is being tracked by Barcelona and ManU, he is really comming of age. There is perhaps even more potential for Villareal's Chukwueze who is already making a name for himself in LaLiga.
So Cote d'Ivoire is the first to qualify via the penalty shootout. Egypt host South Africa starting in a few minutes to determine the second qualified team. Loser of that plays Ghana.
https://www.fifa.com/mensolympic/news/cote-d-ivoire-and-egypt-earn-tokyo-2020-berths is titled "Côte d'Ivoire and Egypt earn Tokyo 2020 berths."
Bump Saudi Arabia became the 10th team to qualify as the U-23 AFC Championship winds down. Japan, who qualifies automatically of course, had a stinker of a tournament. Finished last in their group. Meanwhile, the CONMEBOL qualifies have just started. Argentina off to a good start beating the hosts, Colombia, 2-1.
South Korea qualified as well. Australia and Uzbekistan will play off for 3rd place in the AFC under 23 championship and also the last AFC spot in the Olympics on saturday evening.