Source: FOOTYMAD
Clubs call for end to August internationals
The chairman of the European Clubs' Association, Karl-Heinze Rummenigge, has asked Fifa to stop playing international matches in August - especially in a World Cup year. The ECA represents 191 clubs across the continent, with at least one in each of the 53 national associations within Uefa. Rummenigge is unhappy with games being played so early in the season, with the European domestic season starting in July. "We will intervene more and more in the international match calendar," he said. "Some countries are already playing their third series of internationals since the World Cup. Fifa need to recognise the players are our employees and we have to be involved in these kinds of discussions. "It is very dangerous to come back from a long tournament with only three weeks of holidays and with less than one week of preparation and then play a friendly for the national team. That kind of date has to be given up. "The August friendly date was a nonsense. We have to make Fifa understand that certain things don't make sense."
