Today Sepp Blatter (left) reinforced a ruling FIFA made on July 10th: Clubs are obligated to release U23-eligible players for next month’s Olympic Games in Beijing.

Blatter distributed a letter to this effect to all member clubs, publishing excerpts from that communicae on the FIFA’s web site. While the declaration seems a redundancy - a president repeating what his organization had already ruled - Blatter’s statement was necessary after series of clubs have to withheld releasing their age-eligible players. Lionel Messi remains with Barcelona, the club trying to keep him from Beijing despite his being named to the Argentina Olympic team. Brazilians Diego and Rafinha have defied their Bundesliga clubs, Werder Bremen and Schalke, and joined their Olympic teams. This has led their club to declare them in breach of contract and appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The controversy between club and governing body centers on the International Match Calendar - a schedule produced by FIFA that divides the calendar year between club and country. In those windows defined as country - called release periods - clubs are obligated to release players for national team duty. Despite being sanctioned by FIFA, the Olympics fall outside of a release period. The 2008 match calendar allows for a window around August 20. The Olympic tournament starts on August 7th, with the gold medal match scheduled for the 23rd.

The view of the clubs holds that, because the tournament does not fall within a release period on the match calendar, clubs are not obligated to release players. While most players have still been allowed by their clubs to participate in the games, some players deemed by their teams to be particularly important to their club have had their Olympic release withheld. Barcelona faces third round Champions League qualifying during the Olympic tournament, thus their desire to keep Messi (left, for Argentina). For the same reason, Schalke wishes to keep Rafinha. Werder Bremen automatically qualified for the Champions League group stage by virtue of their second place finish in last season’s Bundesliga, yet they view playmaker Diego too important to their preseason preparations to justify a release.

FIFA disagrees with this view. When news out of Germany started reporting Bremen and Schalke planning to hold back players, FIFA was asked to clairfy: were clubs required to release of age players? FIFA released the July 10 statement:

“In view of the importance of the Olympic Tournament for the entire sporting movement in general and football in particular, as well as on the basis of customary law, the release of players younger than 23 has always been mandatory for all clubs. For Beijing 2008 the same principle shall apply.

“This is not a new position and the regulations have not changed.”

While it is not a new position, it is a position that is based on convention. The International Match Calendar, on the other hand, is a firm regulation. At least, that was the club’s view. When the time came for players to leave their club training and join their Olympic teams, some clubs held firm to this interpretation. While players like Messi have respected the club’s interpretation of their contractual obligations, players like Diego and Rafinha have left their club. Rafinha had made it clear earlier this month that he had no intention of complying with Schalke’s request to report. Diego, on the other hand, initially indicated deference to Werder Bremen’s wishes only to change his mind this week and join Brazil’s Olympic team.

Shortly after Blatter’s affirmation of FIFA’s stance, the European Club Association has took up the Olympic fight.

The ECA is the successor to the G-14 - the group of super clubs, disbanded earlier this year, formed to represent the clubs’ interest. Whereas the G-14 represented 18 clubs when it expired, the ECA represents 103 clubs across all 53 national associations in Europe. Formed for the sole purpose of protecting its members interests, it club unionization.

The ECA’s president, Bayern Munich chief Karl-Heinze Rummenigge (left), issued a statement saying, “[the ECA supports] all clubs that currently face losing important players.

“The ECA suggests that FIFA president Sepp Blatter should define clear guidelines and regulations in consultation with the IOC regarding subsequent Olympic Games, once the current framework for the Olympic football tournament expires.”

It was not just a statement clarifying the ECA’s view. Within Rumminegge’s language, the true nature of the Olympic conflict took shape - a nature that goes beyond the Olympic soccer tournament.

In the soccer world, the Olympics are a minor tournament; a tournament that, since the advent of the World Cup, has lacked identity. The sport was originally dropped from the Olympics in 1932 when FIFA created the World Cup. With in Berlin in 1936, the sport returned and defined itself as the world’s premier amateur competition. But as the Olympics have assimilated professionalism over the last two-plus decades (soccer allowed professionals in the Olympics starting in 1984), the Olympic tournament lost its purpose. In 1992, the tournament rebranded itself, putting an age limit on the event, making it the premier U23 prize in world soccer.

This transition from amateurism to professionalism has brought the Olympic tournament into the middle of a long-running fight between FIFA and the clubs. Clubs have always (but to varying degrees) fought FIFA over releasing players for national team duty. The compromise in that fight is the International Match Calendar. Clubs, who originally sought to maintain complete control over when they released players, have acquiesced to release players during pre-defined windows - the release periods. Between the club and the sports governing body, this represents a truce - a truce defined the tension of each side’s believe that it has ultimate control.

The height of this tension is embodied in the existence of the ECA. The big clubs were concerned enough about FIFA infiltration into club football business they formed this union. It is the successor to the G-14 - an entity that only disbanded after securing an agreement with FIFA and UEFA where the governing bodies would pay club compensation when contracted players are injured at the World Cup or the European Championships. On February 15 of this year, the G-14 transitioned into the ECA - a broader and more powerful group of clubs.

FIFA should have known the ECA would pick-up the G-14’s fighting spirit when, during its first meeting, the organization went out of its way to denounce Blatter’s 6+5 proposal. The 6+5 idea - a piece of FIFA legislation that would require each club to always play six players eligible to play for the league’s corresponding national side - was being billed as a means to prevent the migration of players towards big leagues and clubs. But the legislation was never popular, being highly criticized by clubs upon arrival. Although the European Union, months earlier, had declared 6+5 illegal (all but killing the measure), the ECA still wanted to weigh-in against Blatter’s prized idea.

In hindsight, the ECA’s stance on 6+5 looks is a warning shot: a ceremonial act designed to show willingness to do more. The ECA could not have done anything to effect the destiny of 6+5. The idea was already dead. Still, the ECA wanted to show FIFA that no idea is too dormant, too small, or too benign to pass without its notice. The ECA’s position on 6+5 casts Karl-Heinze Rummenigge’s statements on the Olympics in a different light.

Standing up to FIFA and fighting the Olympic rulings is not about helping a few clubs keep a small number of key players from a minor tournament. It’s about standing up to FIFA - nothing else. The invasions of the Sepp Blatters and (UEFA president) Michel Platinis into the clubs’ business is no longer going to be tolerated. Ad hoc rulings that refer to custom and spirit as the basis of a ruling will not be good enough reasons to take contracted players away from their club responsibilities. In the future, the clubs will need to be consulted, and major decisions that change the landscape of the football world will have to be made in consort with the ECA. That is the atmosphere the clubs are intent on creating.

Should FIFA fight these changes and act with the same hubris that Blatter has exhibited throughout his presidency, the body risks being marginalized and losing relevance with the ECA. FIFA still carries the credibility of independence and objectivity, but the real power in soccer lies with the clubs. The clubs have the money. They pay the players, and they provide a vast majority of the product soccer fans consume.

At the point when FIFA’s relationship with the clubs becomes too acrimonious, the clubs will find something else to put in FIFA’s place. This process will happen slowly, as the clubs unite and flex their muscle on issues like the Olympics, but with each small victory other associations will be embolden to form. An ACSA (Associacion de Clubs Sud Americana, South American Club Association) will be next. Asia and North American would follow.

Consider this a test of Blatter’s leadership. If he has the foresight to see these outcomes, he will strike a deal with the ECA now. Let the players go to Beijing this year in exchange for a guarantee of more input when the decisions for the 2012 Games need be made. Input, after all, is why the ECA was formed. Defuse this controversy now. Do not let it be a means by which the ECA can gather more strength. Try to prevent the ECA from being perceived as a model for other confederations. Above all, maintain the high road that FIFA still, tenuously occupies.

It is unlikely the creator of an invasive proposal like 6+5 can accept a world in which FIFA is not hegemonic. Expect Blatter to let ECA’s power grow. As the ECA grows, today’s fight over the Olympics will seem like the seed of a club-versus-FIFA conflict that will define and ultimately undermine the Sepp Blatter-era.

If you have any questions or comments about the article, you can email the author here or leave your comment, below.

Barcelona midfielder Deco, who just finished his duties at Euro 2008 with Portugal, has signed with Chelsea.  The 30-year-old will join manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, who has coached Deco for the last six years with Portugal’s men’s national team.

The move, confirmed on Chelsea’s web site, is for a reported £8 million.

Deco was one of three Barcelona players (along with Samuel Eto’o and Ronaldinho) told they were free to talk to other clubs in the wake of Pep Guardiola’s hiring as Barça’s coach.  The Brazilian born attacker spent four years at Camp Nou after joining the Catalans from FC Porto.  He amassed 112 league appearances and 13 goals.

Deco has won two Champions League titles - one with FC Porto, the other with Barcelona - and was name best midfielder in the Champions League each time.  He was also a member of two La Liga winning teams at Barça.  His creativity and vision are seen by many as needs in Chelsea’s central midfield.

The Deco signing further fuels reports that midfielder Frank Lampard has signed with Inter Milan.  Lampard has reclined comment on the story France Football broke on Friday confirming the deal between Lampard and the Scudetto winners.  Chelsea has said no deal between the club and Inter Milan is in place.

With the rumors of Cristiano Ronaldo’s imminent departure from Old Trafford dominating the Premiership’s summer press, it has been easy to overlook other transfer speculation - speculation that has touched almost every major name in the Premier League. There have been a few, untouched exceptions (Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry), but even luminaries Fernando Torres (to Chelsea), Frank Lampard (to Inter), and Cesc Fabregas (generic back to Spain rumors) have been speculated to move.

Thus, it is no surprise that a player like Emmanuel Adebayor is in the news, but what distinguishes the Adebayor rumors is the openness with which pursuing clubs are speaking of a move. Take this weekend when AC Milan’s coach Carlo Ancelotti, affirming the club’s midweek declaration that Adebayor was their sole target, said there was a fifty percent chance of securing an Adebayor transfer. And AC Milan is not the only club that has been so rumored. Late last week there was reports that FC Barcelona’s vice president was in London to talk to Arsenal about Alexander Helb (long rumored) and Adebayor. These are levels of openness not even Bernd Schuster has reached in his Ronaldo pursuit.

Another aspect that makes the Adebayor rumors distinct: Gunner-backers are (at best) disinterested as to whether he stays. While fans bemoan Helb’s desire to leave London, Adebayor’s departure is met with far less heartbreak. This view, in contrast to Arsene Wenger’s public stance that the 24-year-old Togo striker is not for sale, reflects a lingering resentment Arsenal fans have over Adebayor’s role in last season’s collapse. Though Arsenal finished only four points behind league champion Manchester United, the season is seen as a failure in light of a late season collapse that saw the Gunners get only one win and eight points from a stretch of eight matches from February 23 to April 13. During that time, Adebayor (who scored 24 goals for the season) scored only one goal. That goal came accidentally off his hand in the last game of that spell, a 2-1 loss Old Trafford that put the final nail in the coffin of Arsenal’s title aspirations.

Adebayor, who led the league in offsides infractions, seemed to miss an inordinate number of chances during that stretch, contributing to the perception that his goal totals where less a product of his own talents and more a product of work from Fabregas and Helb. That explanation fit as well with Adebayor’s increase from eight to 24 goals as his sliding into the departed Thierry Henry’s striker spot.

If Fabregas is deemed to be capable of bolster other like he has Adebayor, a series of internal options become attractive: Eduardo de Silva and Tomas Rosicky are expected to return to health at some point near the start of the season; French midfielder Samir Nasri has been brought in; Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner may be ready for more time. With these reinforcements, Wenger may want to sell high. AC Milan is set to pay £32 million, should Arsenal want to sell. Barcelona’s been linked with an offer of £22.5 million.

It is difficult to knock a player who finished tied for second in the league in goals, but it is also difficult to put Adebayor in the same class as Torres (with whom he tied on the list) or Cristiano Ronaldo (the league’s leading scorer), who are considered amongst the league and game’s elite. Roque Santa Cruz, without having an enabler like Fabregas, scored nineteen goals for Blackburn and can be compared favorably to Adebayor. While players like Torres and Santa Cruz lack the imposing size the 6′ 3″ Togoan brings to the position, they also bring more athleticism, ability with the ball at their feet, better finishing, and more refined instincts than Adebayor. The ability to accumulate offsides fouls with a rate and timing that makes the Nicolas Anelka blush speaks to Adebayor’s still-developing instincts.

The question is whether Arsenal should wait for those instincts to develop. Very few Gunner supporters think their leading goal scorer is worth the £32 million Adriano Galliani and Milan want to pay. If the club sold Adebayor, Arsenal would lose a huge physical presence in their attack, but having Fabregas as a backbone begs the question of whether 20-year-old Dane Nicklas Bendtner, who is half an inch taller than Adebayor, could slot into the vacated spot and produce enough goals that, along with with the increased health of Eduardo, Rosicky, and Robin van Persie, made up for the Togoan’s loss. Bendtner’s inconsistency and lack of experience has been derided by Arsenal fans, but he is an option that would enable the club to allocate the £32 million to a generally recognized need area: their back line.

Even if the club does not feel Bendtner is ready to step-in, Arsenal could try to go with the kind of smaller, quicker lineup that would make their already attractive brand of play that much more pleasing. The team might end up looking a lot by the Russian side that’s is caturing the hearts of Euro 2008-followers, with Robin van Persie’s Pavyluchenko as the biggest physical presence. If Wenger were to go to a starting XI with some combination of van Persie, Eduardo, and Theo Walcott playing up top, few back lines in the Premiership would possess the foot speed to counter that attack. And if it is deemed that the squad needs a physical presence, Santa Cruz or Tottenham’s Dimitar Berbatov can be had, neither of whom are likely to cost what Milan or Barcelona are willing to pay for Adebayor.

Like Cristiano Ronaldo, Adebayor is on the brink of his career’s prime. His transfer value may never be higher as clubs are willing to pay top-dollar to secure the heart of his career. But unlike Ronaldo, whose absence from Manchester United’s lineup would require Sir Alex Ferguson to compensate, there is debate as to how much Adebayor’s absence would affect the club’s chances to win the league. Adebayor’s statistics speak of an essential component to Arsenal’s attack, but what is seen on the pitch does not. Whether Wenger agrees on Adebayor’s expendability, Milan’s offer may be too good to refuse in light of the many available, less expensive, ready alternatives.

It’s only taken three days for the hiring at Stamford Bridge to set the British soccer media ablaze, so much so that, for the first time in its short history, Premiership News and Rumors concentrates on one club:  Chelsea FC.

While new Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari guides the Portuguese national team team through Euro 2008, the rest of the soccer-following world has volunteered to help him figure out how to spend owner Roman Abramovich’s fortune, from which £100 million might be allocated towards this summer’s transfer budget. All prominent targets from Scolari’s 2002 World Cup winning side from (Brazil) and the current Portuguese national team have had Chelsea move to the top of their likely destination lists; most prominently, Barcelona’s Deco and Ronaldinho.

After Scolari was named Chelsea boss earlier this week, speculation of Deco’s potential move from Barcelona exploded. Before that, speculation had Deco’s list of potential targets down to two: Chelsea and Inter Milan. Inter had been thought the favorite because of the hiring of Jose Mourinho, with whom Deco won the Champions League at FC Porto in 2004. With Scolari now announced at Chelsea, Stamford Bridge is now thought to be the favorite to land the Portuguese international, with some reports saying a deal is already done. Deco and his agent deny such a deal is in place, with the midfielder now worried that Barcelona may be asking too much as a transfer fee. “At my age you cannot ask too much for me,” said the 30-year-old, who was reported close to a deal at Inter before the Scolari hiring. That deal, said to be for around £10 million, was partially scuttled by Barça increasing their asking price. Deco’s price is now said to be closer to £15 million, with a high figure of £20 million also reported.

Deco’s teammate at Barcelona, Ronaldinho, had been speculated to Manchester City before Scolari’s hiring, but now that the man who was in charge of his 2002 World Cup winning team is at Chelsea, Ronaldinho has said “it would be a pleasure to cross paths with him again.” Part of what had made Ronaldinho’s move to Manchester City plausible (beyond Thaksin Shinawatra’s money) was the lack of interest from elite clubs. With Scolari now at Chelsea, that lack of interest may be no more. Shinawatra has been confident that City will acquire Ronaldinho, ready to pay a £20 million fee to Barça.

One other Barça player, Cameroon international Samuel Eto’o, has been linked with Chelsea, part of what might be a package deal with Deco. Eto’o has also been linked with Inter and AC Milan, the three teams most prominent in the bidding for Chelsea’s Didier Drogba. Drogba, however, in the wake of Scolari’s hiring, has reiterated his contract with Chelsea that runs through 2010, indicating he is willing to stay at The Bridge. If Drogba does indeed want to stay - a pledge he has notably come just short of making - Eto’o looks more likely to move to the Serie A.

One other current Chelsea player leaning back towards the club is center back Ricardo Carvalho. In what same have labeled as the most positive effect of Scolari’s announcement, the Portuguese international backed off quotes from early in the week pushing a reunion with Jose Mourinho. The hiring of Carvalho’s national team coach could be enough to see the club’s player of the year stay.

Another current member of the club Scolari’s hoping to keep is Frank Lampard. Lampard was another, along with Carvalho and Drogba, set to be targeted by Mourinho, but Scolari is said to be keen on keeping the midfielder, ready to make him the club’s highest paid player at £150,000 per week. The stabilizing factor of such a prominent hire may be a deciding factor for the England international, who is heading into the final year of a contract that he can buy-out for £7 million.

Real Madrid’s Robinho has also seen his name linked with Chelsea since the hiring of Scolari, though any club’s deal for the 24-year-old Brazilian is unlikely to be completed until the Cristiano Ronaldo affair ends. Robinho, it is rumored, will be proposed as a makeweight in the deal that would send Ronaldo from Manchester United to Real Madrid. Whatever odds you put on that happening, Real Madrid are unlikely to off-load the young winger when he can be used to help lure his superstar replacement. Should Madrid not acquire Ronaldo or Robinho not be makeweight in that deal, the amount speculated for a Chelsea bid is £28 million.

And no transfer speculation report would be complete without a mention of the man of the hour, David Villa. The Valencia striker has been the star of Euro 2008 over Spain’s first two matches, scoring four goals, including a hat trick in the Spaniards’ opening match against Russia. Already carrying a high price tag after scoring 18 goals in 29 games for Valencia, Villa was set to be sold to help Valencia balance their books, with Liverpool loosely mentioned as an interested party. But with Villa’s stellar performance at Euro, Rafa Benitez and his tight transfer budget might be priced out of the market, with the 26-year-old striker approaching a realm in which only the Chelseas of the world can consistently play. Villa will also see his priced pushed by La Liga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, both of whom will have to deal with calls to acquire the available Spanish hero. However, in a ploy seemingly to drive up the price, Valencia coach Unai Emery now says Villa is not available.

If Villa truly is off-the-market, he will join a growing and distinguished list of names linked with Chelsea that have been affirmed unavailable by their owning clubs. AC Milan has warned off Chelsea regarding star midfielder Kaka amidst rumors Scolari may seek out the Brazilian. Liverpool continues to say Feranando Torres is unavailable, with Chelsea being the main target of those comments, while Bayern Munich says they will not sell Frank Ribery.

One of the more bazaar pieces of speculation holds right back Jose Bosingwa, who was confirmed in mid-May as switching from FC Porto to Chelsea, was actually a Scolari signing, with the Scolari authorizing the signing of the Portugal international almost one month before he was announced hired at Stamford Bridge. These are the type of rumors you get when the British media is handed the story of an elite club hiring a high profile coach and allocating him a seemingly unlimited amount of transfer money. You get conspiracy theories and, as seen above, links between club and almost every high-profile player in the world. Thankfully, no rumors of Portuguese international Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Stamford Bridge have surfaced.

Yet.

Completing a move that had been rumored for the past two weeks, Mexican forward Giovani dos Santos moves from FC Barcelona to Tottenham.  The nineteen-year-old has signed on at White Hart Lane through 2013, with his former club getting a £4.7 million fee.

That fee could increase to £8.6 million depending on dos Santos’s performance over the life of the deal.  The transfer includes a 20 percent sell-on clause.

Giovani had struggled to find a spot amongst the deep crops of attackers at Camp Nou, though he did register a hat trick against Real Murcia in his last appearance for Barcelona.  These were his only goals for Barça’s senior side, for which he made 28 appearances.

Dos Santos has also made five appearances for Mexico’s senior national team, the first of which came last year.  Chelsea and Manchester City were also rumored to be interested in securing his services.  He joins midfielders Luka Modric (Croatia, former Dinamo Zagreb) and John Bostock (England, former Crystal Palace) as acquisitions by Juande Ramos in his first summer transfer season as Spurs head coach.

With the expected departure of forward Dimitar Berbatov, he is expected to pair with Robbie Keane in the Hotspur’s attack, with Darren Bent also being in the mix.  If Berbatov stays, dos Santos could slide into an attacking midfielder’s role.