Column: No real winners in club vs country row
The FA have got their way and England will meet up as planned on 19th June for their pre-World Cup camp, but the issue needs resolving in a better way in the future
So, England, Sarina Wiegman and The FA win out. The Lionesses will meet up on 19th June as planned to start preparations for this summer's World Cup in Australia/New Zealand.
Ever since the ECA announcement earlier this year stating European clubs were putting their foot down and not releasing their players until the official FIFA release date of July 10th, the issue has been divisive. Not just for the nations and clubs involved, but between fans and the media too.
Everybody's had a different view, and it was always likely the initial statement from the ECA was merely posturing, setting the foundation for more constructive talks and a more plausible solution. It also brought into stark reality what is the point of an official FIFA release date for a major tournaments when every single participating nation was planning to meet up well in advance of July 10th anyway?
Sticking to that date would have been a horror show for European nations who would have had just 10 days to meet up, go straight into high-intensity training after no games in over a month, travel for 24 hours to the other side of the world and somewhere fit in a preparation game. Injuries, as Vera Pauw put it, would have been off the scale.
So it was no shock when the ECA announced a compromise of June 23rd for nations to start meeting up, a much more realistic option which now gives an extra two weeks for national teams to prepare, while ensuring most players still get a good rest, with many having gone on holiday in recent weeks to unwind.
But still, there have been problems. Many nations had already arranged friendly matches for either before that date or just after it and Euro 2022 finalists Germany were the first to hit a stumbling block, with Bayern Munich playing hardball in not releasing their players until the 23rd, meaning Germany will start camp without players from the Bundesliga champions and likely be without them for their friendly against Vietnam a day later on the 24th.
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England too faced resistance from clubs keen to withhold their players until the 23rd. They've won the argument, and probably rightly so given the tight timeframe, but may not have won the war, with clubs unhappy at the FA getting players involved directly in a literal club vs country battle.
In my opinion, the time to posture about this is not now, but to ensure post-World Cup this is not an issue in future tournaments, potentially starting with next summer's Olympic Games should Team GB qualify.
Many view it as 'well what difference does four days make?' but international schedules are not created on a wim and not without player health taken highly into account. They are carefully curated over a number of months, not just from Wiegman but throughout her staff in all departments, and a change to that at short notice would have been a huge blow to England's preparations.
It would have likely left them without a warm-up friendly before heading to Australia, or certainly left them playing it without a number of key players, and would have also taken away five days the players will be allowed to relax with their families before travelling to Australia, essentially wiping out the four days the clubs were resistant over anyway.
To that end, the right outcome has probably been found, but in the wrong manner, and the FA rightfully drew criticism for forcing the players into their own decisions when it should have been down to them and the clubs only to find common ground. Putting the players in that tough position isn't right, and it was unlikely any of them were ever going to want to put their participation in the camp at risk by saying no.
It's been a generally unedifying build-up to the tournament and there is still the lingering question mark of major broadcast deals being struck around Europe too, including England, leaving a sour taste in the mouth coming off the back of last summer's success.
The schedule is getting busier and busier and these issues will pop up again, but when you take into account England were the first team to meet up ahead of last summer's Euros and four years ago the World Cup was already well under way and England had already played their first game on June 9th, despite the Women's Super League only finishing two weeks earlier than it did this season.
The topic is more sensitive coming off the back of a season where ACL injuries at the top level felt at an all-time high, but most players are getting more of a rest than for either of the last couple of major tournaments, and there's almost six weeks post-tournament before the WSL gets back under way at the very end of September.
The schedule will only get busier, so when this ugly issue rises its head again in the future, a more sophisticated solution must be found, and now time is on everyone's side for that.
Hope they get knocked out