FIFA SETS ASIDE $100M TO INSURE PLAYERS AGAINST INTERNATIONAL INJURY

The world football governing body Fifa has set aside $100m to insure players against injury while on international duty. The move needs to be approved by the 208 member nations at the Fifa congress on May 25 in Budapest. At a news conference at the weekend Fifa president Sepp Blatter admitted that perhaps Fifa should have introduced such a scheme "a long time ago". Europe's football governing body Uefa has already promised to insure players at the forthcoming European Championship. However, there were suspicions that the release of the insurance news was timed to mitigate the impact of an announcement that clubs will be compelled to release Under-23 players for the London Olympics, which begin on July 25. The tournament is not part of the international match calendar and clubs have been critical of the number of times they are forced to release players for international duty.