Bayern end international dispute over Robben injury
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Your support makes all the difference.Bayern Munich and the Dutch Football Association have agreed to end their dispute over Arjen Robben and have arranged a friendly for next year. The two parties have agreed to disagree in their dispute over compensation for the thigh injury the winger suffered shortly before the World Cup which ruled him out of the first half of the Bundesliga season.
Bayern and the Netherlands will play a friendly on 22 May next year at the Allianz Arena in Munich. "We are delighted that this agreement now brings the matter to a close," Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said in a statement. "It is good for the football family that we have found a fair and satisfactory solution."
The CEO of the Dutch Football Association (KNVB), Bert van Oostveen, added: "We have accepted that no consensus has emerged regarding the fundamentals of the discussion so the best course of action was to put aside our differences and seek a solution acceptable to both sides.
"This has now happened. We're satisfied with the outcome, and we're now looking forward to a fantastic friendly match in Munich."
Bayern said the agreement was the outcome of a series of meetings over the past few months. Robben received treatment from a specialist in the Netherlands who got him fit to play a decisive role in the Dutch progression to the World Cup final in South Africa last summer, but Bayern claimed the rushed treatment did more harm than good in the long term.
The injury flared up again following Robben's return to pre-season training after the World Cup, and Bayern doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt claimed the original injury from June was never correctly treated. Bayern had wanted the KNVB to take over payment of the player's wages until he was fit to play again.
Meanwhile, a Fifa appeals hearing for five officials suspended after allegations of corruption during the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding races began yesterday. They included Fifa executive committee members Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii who were barred from the 2 December votes by the governing body's ethics committee.
The Nigerian Adamu, who received a three-year ban from all football duty, became the most senior Fifa official ever sanctioned for bribery. Fifa said its independent appeals committee, chaired by Bermuda Football Association president Larry Mussenden, opened the two-day hearings on Wednesday but gave no further details. Mussenden was a former attorney general in the Caribbean island's government.
Adamu, a former sports minister, has been quoted by Nigerian media this week saying he is confident of clearing his name.
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