Soccer tiff heads to Court of Arbitration for Sport

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The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Berne, Switzerland, will have the final say on whether European soccer clubs must release players for next month’s Beijing Olympics.

FIFA sparked the dispute by ordering soccer clubs to release players 23 years of age and younger if their national teams want them to play.

“Taking part in the Olympic Games is a unique opportunity for all athletes of any sporting discipline,” FIFA said in a statement. “It would not be justifiable to prevent any player younger than 23 from participating in such an event if his representative team had qualified.”

But the Beijing Games’ schedule is in conflict with the start of the European soccer season, which prompted two German clubs to argue that FIFA overstepped its authority because the Olympics are not on FIFA’s international match calendar.

The German clubs want to keep Brazil from recruiting Diego, a 23-year-old midfielder, and 22-year-old defender Rafinha. Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that Spain will join the CAS bid in order to keep forward Lionel Messi from having to report for duty with Argentina’s Olympic team.

-- Greg Johnson