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FIFA's Sepp Blatter declares `war' on G14 soccer clubs

FIFA chief Sepp Blatter declared "war" on G14 during a visit to Tunisia Monday and reiterated his threat to expel any of their members from international competitions if they refused to release players for international matches.

G14, a grouping of 18 of the richest clubs in Europe, are at loggerheads with FIFA and UEFA over what they see as unjust rules forcing them to release players for international matches without any consideration for compensation.

The group, which includes European giants such as Real Madrid, AC Milan and Manchester United, are even suing FIFA for 860 million euros (US$1 billion) for losses attributed to players returning injured from international matches over the last 10 years.

But Blatter hit back on a two-day visit to inaugurate the new headquarters of the Tunisian Federation, which was part funded by FIFA.

"If they [G14] want a world war, they will get it," said a fired-up Blatter at a press conference. "It is okay to adopt resolutions, but you have to also create a means of sanctioning."

Last week, UEFA adopted a resolution strongly condemning G-14's activities including a clause that said all clubs should commit to UEFA's principles and rules or they risked expulsion from its competitions. One of its rules is clubs from its member federations must release players for international duty.

"Sanctioning should operate in this way: if a G-14 club refuses to release a player for an international match, they should no longer have the right to compete in international club tournaments. It is like racism, it must be punished or it can do harm," Blatter said.

This issue is of particular relevence in North Africa as G14's legal proceedings followed an attempt by Belgian first division club Charleroi to sue FIFA after one of their midfielders, Abdelmajid Oulmers, was injured while playing for Morocco against Burkina Faso on November 2004. He was unable to play for his side for more than 200 days.
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