About certain conflicts and contradictions between UEFA match calendar and FIFA legislation in the context 2020/21 UEFA Nations League

UEFA says that “A” national teams in October and November 2020 can play on Wednesday, three times during the international window and they can play even out of International Match Calendar, but FIFA rules and regulations say otherwise. Who is right?

UEFA (https://tinyurl.com/ybz7w3j6) had published the full fixture list for the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League group stage on Friday 26 June 2020. In case you will attentively consider the dates of the matches new edition of UEFA tournament in the context of FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players you inevitably raises some questions. What are these questions? I see two issues.

The first questions: the dates of appropriate tournament matches. Further the quote form UEFA news: “The group stage matches of the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League will be played on the following dates: 3/4/5 and 6/7/8 September; 10/11 and 13/14 October; 14/15 and 17/18 November 2020.”

3/4/5 and 6/7/8 September — the period from Thursday to Tuesday.

10/11 and 13/14 October — there Saturday and Sunday as well as Tuesday and Wednesday.

14/15 and 17/18 November — are the same, Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

However, point number 4 of chapter 1 (https://tinyurl.com/ycxrzqzr) of Annexe 1 Release of players to association teams FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players June 2020 Edition (including COVID-19 temporary amendments) has the following words:

“An international window is defined as a period of nine days starting on a Monday morning and ending on Tuesday night the following week, which is reserved for representative teams’ activities. During any international window a maximum of two matches may be played by each representative team, irrespective of whether these matches are qualifying matches for an international tournament or friendlies. The pertinent matches can be scheduled any day as from Wednesday during the international window, provided that a minimum of two full calendar days are left between two matches (e.g. Thursday/Sunday or Saturday/Tuesday).”

What does that mean? Wednesday 14 October 2020 and Wednesday 18 November 2020 are out of the international window. An international window is the period from Monday morning and ending on Tuesday night the following week.

The second question: the dates of the friendly matches in October and November 2020. The next quote of UEFA news is: “Friendly matches will be played on 7/8 October and 11/12 November.” 

Meantime, “…During any international window a maximum of two matches may be played by each representative team, irrespective of whether these matches are qualifying matches for an international tournament or friendlies.” I see that UEFA offers play three matches during the international window.

In principle, I can articulate the third question but I will restrain myself to the definitions from another FIFA document. This is INTERNATIONAL MATCH CALENDAR 2018-2024 FIXED DATES FOR INTERNATIONAL “A” MATCHES 2018-2024 (https://tinyurl.com/yaq7j9cd ). The dates we are interested in 2020: 31 August – 8 September, 5-13 October and 9-17 November. We cannot find in this document the dates 14 October and 18 November. If we return to chapter 1 of Annexe 1 Release of players to association teams Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players we can find over there point number 2: “The release of players under the terms of paragraph 1 of this article is mandatory for all international windows listed in the international match calendar (cf. paragraphs 3 and 4 below) as well as for the final competitions of the FIFA World Cup?, the FIFA Confederations Cup and the championships for “A” representative teams of the confederations, subject to the relevant association being a member of the organising confederation.”

As a result, because 14.10.2020 and 18.11.2020 do not list in the international match calendar the release of players is not mandatory for the above dates? Or I something miss and FIFA had made some amendments in the appropriate rules because of COVID-19?

Here, I think, we can admit certain conflicts and contradictions between UEFA match calendar and FIFA legislation in this concrete issue. Probably appropriate football clubs will take relevant decisions regarding release of the players because of exactly clubs are decision-makers in the frame of FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players. Probably UEFA will explain it additional. We will see who is right.