Football governing body FIFA earned the scorn of Liverpool owner John Henry over the weekend. While their feet-dragging over whether Joel Matip was eligible to play for Liverpool at Old Trafford without the club facing sanctions led to his omission from the squad. While Henry did not resort to any 'what are they smoking over there at FIFA' tweets - presumably because he knows exactly that they are smoking: the finest Cuban cigars - the club were very angry over the lack of a response from FIFA.
Matip is currently not at the African Cup of Nations, having retired from international football with Cameroon in 2015. Cameroon tried to call him up for this year's competition anyway, so Liverpool sought clarification from FIFA to confirm they were free to play Matip without facing any sanctions.
They did ask, although FIFA did not respond. Presumably, they were too busy ruining the World Cup and toasting the successful end they have put to racism.
FIFA have belatedly responded today, and have provided their own unique version of clarity: namely making it clear as mud.
They've got in touch with journalists to say that they are, indeed, investigating the matter:
Had a reply from FIFA to say that Matip's eligibility for #LFC is being investigated by their disciplinary committee. No time frame given.
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) January 16, 2017
The official legalese of the entire farrago is mightily complicated.
On Matip's Liverpool eligibility, FIFA raising possibility of rule violations that would be investigated pic.twitter.com/Q1KT4xXDUr
— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) January 16, 2017
Oddly, however, that reply to the AP's Rob Harris omitted a relevant piece of information from FIFA's rules:
FIFA curiously leaving out some crucial pieces of its own guidance! pic.twitter.com/34Fwpc2u3l
— Jake Cohen (@JakeFCohen) January 16, 2017
So ultimately, if Matip has confirmed to Cameroon in writing that he has retired from international football, then he should be clear to play. Given how relaxed Liverpool have been about the position up to now, and the fact that Matip has been retired for two years, it would be extremely strange for Matip not to have his paperwork in order. If he has, in fact, failed to do so, then Matip will be out of action for the duration of the competition, as well as for an additional five days, meaning he might not return until the middle of February.
The fact that FIFA still don't have a definitive answer, however, would suggest that they don't know one themselves.
