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The international ‘A’ matches must be listed in the international calendar for the period September 2012-31 December 2014.
The resolution is meant to protect players up to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
An international ‘A’ match is a match that has been arranged between two national associations affiliated to Fifa and for which both associations field their first national representative teams.
Over the years big clubs have been reluctant to release their players for national duty citing fears of carrying the financial burden in the event that their players get injured on national duty as the various associations do not have insurance cover for players doing national duty.
In Zimbabwe, examples include the present Warriors head coach Rahman Gumbo who was injured while turning out for Zimbabwe against Togo and one of the most skilful players to emerge on the local scene, Johannes Ngodzo.
Musa Mguni was injured two months ago while turning out for Zimbabwe and has had to foot his own medical bills in Russia. This was in the clash with Burundi in an Afcon qualifier played in Bujumbura.
Some club administrators in the Premier Soccer League have welcomed the move by Fifa, describing it as a step in the right direction.
“It is a step in the right direction really, something which football must smile about because we have had players having their careers cut short due to injuries on national duty,” said Highlanders secretary Andrew Tapela.
He said the relevant authorities must, however, make sure that there were no bottlenecks in accessing the funds once a player is injured.
Chicken Inn secretary Tawengwa Hara said it had always been their worry that players get neglected upon injury on national duty, with clubs being forced to dig deep into their meagre resources.
“We have a number of players who have been injured on national duty in the past but later on become a burden to their respective clubs. With this move by Fifa, it will now be easier for clubs to release players. I, however, encourage Zifa to guard against abuse of the system by unscrupulous clubs who will send injured players on national duty simply to access the funds,” said Hara.
Contacted for comment on measures that will be put in place to curb such abuses, Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze said it would now be mandatory for all called up players to be medically examined by national team doctors before joining camp.
“That will be the only way to go now and already we have a case where Ajax Cape Town have been making our boy Khama Billiat play yet they knew he was carrying an injury and now he has been called up for national duty,” said Mashingaidze.
The Zimbabwe Warriors are in camp for the 2014 World Cup qualifier against Guinea at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday and Khama was the only player who sat it out due to injury.
Zimbabwe Player Agents Association chairperson Omega Sibanda said a lot of revenue got lost due to careers of players that get cut short as a result of injuries sustained while on national duty.
“We applaud Fifa for the move because as player agents, we are aware of some potential revenue that was lost. We have people like Johannes Ngodzo, Rahman Gumbo, Desmond Maringwa among others whose careers were virtually ended or cut short as a result of injuries. We say thumbs up to Fifa for that,” said Sibanda.
He said now that there was such a fund, players would be more than willing to fight for their country without any fear unlike in the past where some players even feigned injury to avoid going to the national team.
“To avoid sanctions for snubbing national team call-ups, the player would go only to claim injury a few days before the match,” Sibanda said.
Players were also to blame as they engaged in unsanctioned off-season matches where they play on hard surfaces.
Online Reporter