This Friday, the different union associations of footballers in South America joined their voice in a press release in which they show their position against the restrictions of the leagues in Europe. There are already four (LaLiga, Premier League, Serie A and Primeira Liga) that refused to give up the players to their national teams.
In the letter that was published by the different associations, including Acolfutpro (Colombian Association of Professional Footballers) they point to the European leagues in question, to make this decision without reflection or debate, and criticize it for being ‘unfair’.
“There are many national teams from South America who have a large number of footballers playing in European leagues that prevent their release. This results in a regrettable loss of prestige for the qualifying rounds of the highest football event, such as the FIFA World Cup, since the national teams would not be able to count on their top stars ”.
He suggests that they consider their position, since “the honor” of the footballers is at stake, for whom representing the colors of their country “is the maximum they aspire to sportingly.”
In the statement, the associations state that not allowing the release of footballers for matches with their national teams is a selfish attitude. “The leagues of Europe have had in their sights their own interest and benefit, without understanding or paying attention to the needs of the rest, configuring a clear selfish attitude, which is strongly repudiated.”
Finally, they state that “footballers would be ‘imprisoned’ and prevented from freely exercising their right to work, guaranteed by the constitutions of the different countries and by international human rights treaties.” The request of the associations is to reflect and divest themselves of particular interests, also thinking of the footballer, who in this case is affected.
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