The Fife forced to Barcelona to liberate Messi for the Games

Barcelona will have to rid the Argentine striker Lionel Messi to play with his selection of the Beijing Games, has decided today as the sole judge of the Player Status Committee of Fifa, the Tunisian Slim Aloulou. The Emergency Committee of the Fifa meeting in Zurich (Switzerland), had already ruled that the release of players younger than 23 years for the Olympic soccer tournament is mandatory, something that has ratified today the single judge. Joan Laporta, president of Barcelona, has already announced that if the decision of the Fife club was not willing to resort to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).



The single judge has dismissed the argument that the clubs Olympic tournament coincides with club competitions like the Champions League. "The international calendar of matches not have any importance at the time it is established whether the clubs are obliged to release their players for the Olympic soccer tournament male, "says in its communiqué Aloulou. Another of the arguments used by Fifa to maintain mandatory assign players Under 23 at the Olympic tournament is that there has never been revoked and that this legislation clubs since 1988 have always agreed to release their players.

In this regard, the statement said that the Congress of the Fifa 1988, had resolved that all players under 23 years were eligible for the Olympic soccer tournament and that the male Emergency Committee also pointed out that this principle had been confirmed in the Fifa Congress in 2006. The single judge also considered in its verdict that the Olympic Games.

They represent a unique opportunity for athletes from any sport and that, therefore, could not to be justified to prevent any player younger than 23 years participate in this event if his team had been classified representative