2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup: ECA and FIFA agree on player release frameworks

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

The European Club Association (ECA) and world football ruling body, the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) have reached a major agreement on the release dates for players for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The European Club Association has told women’s national teams that they will be releasing players for the World Cup on July 10, just 10 days before it begins.

Many national teams intend to hold camps weeks before kickoff.

“The issue of early call-ups is a hangover from the game in its amateur form,” ECA head of women’s football Claire Bloomfield told the Telegraph.

The United States of America (USA’s) National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) will be releasing its international players on June 26, two weeks before the international window begins.

Player welfare needs to come first, but some national teams could be at a competitive disadvantage depending on when players become available.

Given the above situations and after extensive consultation with stakeholders around the world, ECA and FIFA reached a key agreement on the matter owing to the specific calendar circumstances of this year’s global women’s football Mundial.

The consensus framework put into consideration the fact that different league seasons exist in Europe for the year (2022/2023 and 2023).

This means as some leagues will end ahead of the World Cup, other leagues will be in session.

The mandatory release date for players remains on July 10, 2023, and where a player has official club matches up to that date, the club is expected to retain the player unless otherwise mutually agreed between the member association and the club concerned.

The new consensus agreement has established a non-mandatory release timeframe of 23-29 June 2023 – four weeks ahead of the tournament kick-off on July 20, 2023.

This new framework strikes the all-important balance between players having sufficient rest while allowing adequate time to prepare for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The new framework was established following a series of joint stakeholder meetings, in which ECA presented a proposal to reach a compromise for the benefit of all interested parties.

It included FIFA and ECA representatives as well as delegations from clubs, member associations, UEFA, FIFPRO, and the NWSL, as well as a number of head coaches and specified medical and performance staff.

Several Nigeria players play for European teams with two (Ifeoma Onumonu and Michelle Alozie) in the NWSL and are expected to be called up for the World Cup.

This year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup will hold from July 20 to August 20, in Australia and New Zealand.