Manchester City could lose eight players to the internationla duty as FIFA announced a number of changes to their match calendar.
Presently, all international breaks are the same across different continents, but FIFA today confirmed the September 2020 break will be moved for non-European nations. That match window, which was due to take place from August 31 to September 8 this year, will now take place from January 24 to February 1, 2022 for all confederations except UEFA.
As it is a FIFA match window, UEFA clubs will be forced to release any eligible players chosen for international duty in that period.
Currently, the Citizens have eight players who would be at risk of missing any Premier League action scheduled for that window. They are:
- Ederson, Brazil
- Gabriel Jesus, Braziil
- Sergio Aguero, Argentina
- Yan Couto, Brazil
- Riyad Mahrez, Algeria
- Zack Steffen, USA
- Fernandinho, Brazil
- Nicolas Otamendi, Argentina
FIFA also announced that the 2022 African Cup of Nations will take place during this new window in January 2022, meaning City would likely lose Mahrez for a longer period of time.
In a statement, FIFA said:
"In addition to the previous decisions by the FIFA Council, the Bureau of the Council has unanimously approved a set of further changes to the men’s and women’s international match calendars in response to the global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which persists in most parts of the world.
"These changes follow a thorough consultation process with the confederations and football stakeholders. This process resulted in proposals via the FIFA-Confederations COVID-19 Working Group that maintain the previously agreed principle that a tailor-made and flexible approach between confederations is required, reflecting the varied circumstances of the pandemic across the world.
"The main changes are the following:
"Men’s international match calendar
- to replace the window from 31 August to 8 September 2020 with a window from 24 January to 1 February 2022 for all confederations except UEFA. This means that there is no mandatory release of players for member associations from these confederations in September 2020;
- to replace the window from 31 August to 8 September 2020 with a window from 24 January to 1 February 2022 for all confederations except UEFA. This means that there is no mandatory release of players for member associations from these confederations in September 2020;
- to include the new dates of the Concacaf Gold Cup 2021 (preliminary rounds from 2 to 6 July 2021 and final tournament from 10 July to 1 August 2021) with a mandatory release starting on 28 June 2021."
Source-
Manchester Evening News
