The Rational Ref | Loyalty depends on nature of the paymaster
Platini's demand that Ribery play for France despite international retirement highlights difficulty of balancing interests of club and country
Uefa chief Michel Platini has thrown the book at Franck Ribery, threatening the Bayern Munich winger with a three-match ban should he refuse to play for France if selected by national coach Didier Deschamps.
This despite the 31-year-old Ribery - who since 2006 gained 80 caps and 16 goals for his country - having officially announced his international retirement in August because he is battling injury and has decided to make way for younger players.
Platini claims the Fifa statutes make it clear players must respect the decision of national team coaches. "Franck cannot decide himself whether he plays for France," said Platini. "If Didier Deschamps picks him, he must come. That's the Fifa rule. If he doesn't come, he will be suspended for three Bayern Munich games."
To target individual players for listening to the wishes of their employers, who incidentally also hire their managers and medical personnel, is shortsighted
Platini has been lambasted on social media, many people believing it is plain wrong to force someone to play for their national team when they have decided to retire. Platini makes it sound as if players are being conscripted into the military.
Imagine the uproar if England manager Roy Hodgson had selected Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard for duty last week against Norway and Switzerland despite the fact both former England captains announced their international retirement this summer. In 2004 Paul Scholes retired aged 29 and over the years rejected calls to return to international duty from different England managers. There were no threats.
Relationships between players and coaches should always be based on mutual respect with the understanding that playing for one's country is not the same as playing for one's club. The former is based on personal honour to represent one's nation should players feel patriotic. No contract is required to enlist a player's national allegiance and, in any case, these days it is hard to understand the meaning of "loyalty to one's nation". An increasing number of international players can decide which country to represent based on either birth certificate, blood ancestry or naturalised citizenship.
In contrast, playing for one's club is essentially an employer-employee agreement with the player selling his services. The only loyalty here is toward money under the guise of a work contract.
According to Platini, the Fifa ruling is to prevent players from choosing which internationals they play. This is a fair point since it is conceivable players could announce their international retirement and then later suddenly become available for selection, thereby cherrypicking matches or tournaments. But this scenario is not common. Instead, Platini, Uefa and Fifa should focus on the ulterior motives of clubs rather than players. To target individual players for listening to the wishes of their employers, who incidentally also hire their managers and medical personnel, is shortsighted.