The FIFA International Match Calendar is an outline agreement between FIFA, the six continental football confederations, European Club Association, and FIFPro. The match calendar sets out which dates can be used for "official matches" and "friendly matches". The current dates are within five windows: early spring, late spring, late summer, autumn. The match calendar also determines when international competitions such as the AFC Asian Cup, Africa Cup of Nations, Copa América, CONCACAF Gold Cup, OFC Nations Cup, UEFA European Championship, and FIFA World Cup can take place. Official matches have a release period of four days, which means that players can take up to four days away from club duties to partake in national team duties. If a player participates in an official match on a different continent from his club's, the release period is five days. Friendly matches are deemed less important and the release period is 48 hours. FIFA insist that official and friendly matches take precedence over domestic matches. However, they state that international friendlies that take place outside the designated dates do not.
European Club Association dispute
The European Club Association, a union for the elite European football clubs, are unhappy with the lack of compensation given to the clubs by the international associations. At the 2010 FIFA World Cup, £40 million was paid to clubs as compensation. An article from The Daily Telegraph in February 2012 suggested that the European Club Association want a figure six times as much. The European Clubs have spoken of not agreeing to the 2014-and-onwards agreement of the FIFA calendar until the issue is resolved. The ECA President, German Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said "Unfortunately, discussions with the FIFA president have failed to lead to a satisfactory outcome which takes account of the clubs' demands." In March 2012, FIFA released a press release showing that Rummennigge had been invited to a summit but failed to attend.
