Should Robinho be allowed to celebrate with Real Madrid?
The club vs country debate
The ongoing dispute between Brazil and Real Madrid (the two most successful sides at international and club level), recently resolved in Real Madrid’s favor, has once again brought this issue into the spotlight.
With the G14 suing the organizing bodies, and clubs in several countries demanding compensation for players severely injured while on international duty, sooner or later steps will be taken, either jointly or unilaterally to resolve this once and for all.
Real Madrid will play Real Mallorca on Sunday, June 17th needing a win to secure the 2006-2007 Spanish 1st Division title. Brazil will begin playing the Copa America on June 26th. The problem arose because of FIFA statutes saying that players called up to participate in officially sanctioned tournaments must report to their national teams 14 days before the competition begins.
Who is in the right here? On the one hand FIFA statutes have been in place for a long time, and there is the age old argument that clubs shouldn’t complain about players being called up by their national teams as this raises their caches and profiles (and subsequently, their price tags).
On the other hand, however, it is the clubs, and not the federations, who pay the players. When a player is injured while on international duty, the national team can simply replace him, sooner or later, by selecting another, while the club sees it’s asset - unfortunately, what players are - fall in value, and pay his wages while injured not working for the company that pays him. In any other profession a situation like this would be so absurd that it would only cause laughter.
Do FIFA and federations abuse their position? And if so, what should be done about it? In my opinion they do, and I’d like to hear what others think.
Ed’s note: This article suggests (rather, it reports that Robinho’s agent suggests) that Robinho may defy the wishes of the Brazilian Football Conferation (CFB) and stick around Madrid to beat Mallorca and celebrate winning La Liga with his Real Madrid club mates (oh, how biased can we be? 
).
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Discussion - 11 Responses
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Well
Im a Brasilian guy
And i agree with both sides
Real and Brazil
The only and unique fault was made by FIFA
How they can make such a high-level competion in South America , if they know that many skilled brasilians play in almost every european country tournament?
I still think that FIFA should re-think about their statements about the competions in the America…
With this, sounds like that America’s Cup isnt something important, or our countries dont need skilled players…
Im still angry about FIFA but, what can I do about it?
What can we do about it?
One competition is about to end and the other about to begin…
This a thing that every country have to think after this competion cuz everyone can suffer the same…
Greetings From Brasil
AVRV - why isn’t La Liga scheduled so that it ends in time (starts a bit earlier, etc)?
I think CBF and FIFA should be flexible enough to make one-off exceptions - CBF did allow Ronaldinho and Kaka to rest, after all.
Personally I think the game is as important as the potential title-winner celebrations after it
Why can’t all the Fifa competitions run at - more or less - the same time, like the Copa, Euro, ACN, etc.?
I honestly don’t understand why the Spanish League is still running, when all other leagues finished weeks ago. Even the Bundesliga with its six-week break finished three weeks ago. Bad organisation by the LFP on that part, I’d say, especially when knowing that many, many South Americans play in Spain.
In addition to that, I’d say CBF, despite being allowed to be annoyed at the Spanish League, should make an exception. Three years ago, the Copa America was basically won with a U21 team, and Ronaldinho and Kaká are being rested anyway. Real Madrid are fighting for their first title in four years, let Robinho be a part of it. Even the celebrations
In the case of Brazil vs Real over Robinho, both parties should have handled the situation with more understanding.
Real should in the first place, send a formal request to CBF on Robinho delay in joining the team, knowing beforehand that their last match clash with Copa America/Brazil preparation.
CBF must also be more considerate to Real request since Brazil first match starts only on the 27th against Mexico, so there’s still time for Dunga to prepare. And for me, Ronaldinho and Kaka requests to be excused is far worst crime than Robinho who wanted to play for his country.
Why the **** is the la liga taking so long to finish? This is not the first time this has happened. Why? To have the attention of the EPL fans also and improve viewership? Having said that, I feel that point about the player being the asset of the club is correct. The wages are being paid by the club, not the national team…………
Chole: The thing is that CBF & Dunga have allowed Daniel Alves to play in Sevilla’s last match but wont do the same with Robinho.
I’m pretty happy that FIFA have overruled CBF and allowed Robinho to play without any consequence.
I completely agree with iqnadirshah. It’s not that anyone forced the Spanish FA to prolong the league until middle June. They could have finished a month ago, but they made their choice. Oh, and yes, they knew that Copa America and the African qualifiers were going to clash with la liga and did nothing to prevent the situation. Let them suffer now. My humble opinion is that national teams must have precedence over clubs.
your mi idol robinho
Hey, unfortunately i don’t understand what this conversation is going on about, or what it is getting to.
Although, i am a great fan of both real madrid, and brazil. A also have a keen intrest in the player, ‘Robinho’.
For this reason, i believe that robinho should be able to play for both teams, as i believe that every player has the right to play for their own Country.