Gianni Infantino: "The clubs are unhappy, but the qualifiers must be played"

Teams all over the world complain about the short times and long journeys their members are subjected to. FIFA President Gianni Infantino also spoke at the ECA Assembly and wanted to take stock of qualifying for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

These are his words: "It is important to protect the clubs but also the national teams, football is one for all and we must find a balance. We must protect the health of the athletes and for this we need to rethink the international calendar. We need help of all for a football that is stronger The qualifiers must be played and I asked all the clubs, federations and governments not to discriminate but to show us their solidarity.

We must protect the World Cup, the qualifications and find a compromise also in view of the October and November windows, to overcome this particular situation. We know we don't make everyone happy but we have to find a way to understand each other. What happened yesterday between Brazil and Argentina was crazy, we must face this challenge by making common decisions to deal with this crisis".