Clubs win dispute over Wales players

The Wales players, Ryan Giggs, Robbie Savage, Mark Pembridge, Andy Melville and John Hartson have all been cleared to turn out for their club sides on 17 November after Fifa reversed its decision concerning the controversial four-day rule.

The world game's governing body had originally said the Wales manager Mark Hughes was within his rights to call up his squad on the Saturday evening prior to his country's European Championship qualifier in Azerbaijan on 20 November, ruling the five out of league games for Manchester United, Birmingham City, Everton, Fulham and Celtic respectively on the Sunday.

However, a Fifa spokesman yesterday confirmed that an amendment had been incorporated into existing statutes, declaring that on "non-competitive" match days, players could only be called to international duty 48 hours prior to the game. Because this month's international date has been designated for friendlies, Wales cannot invoke the four-day rule.

A Fifa spokesman said: "Four days is the general rule but, as this is only a day for friendly internationals, it becomes 48 hours. We issued a letter to Birmingham last night to clarify the situation and to apologise for any confusion which has arisen over the issue."

Hughes had thought he was within his rights to take a hard-line stance because the game is competitive and he wanted his players to meet in Cardiff on Saturday evening, the day before Giggs was due to turn out against West Ham United, Pembridge was to play at Blackburn and Savage and Melville were to meet at St Andrew's. In addition, Hartson would also have been ruled out of Celtic's league match with Partick, which has been put back 24 hours because of his club's Uefa Cup commitments the previous week.

Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, had already expressed his frustration, insisting "it wouldn't help Wales" in the long term, while Birmingham's owner David Sullivan was even more outspoken, claiming Savage would be forced to play for the Blues anyway.

The Birmingham chairman David Gold said: "I'm absolutely thrilled. It is great that common sense has prevailed and it is great news for Birmingham because we know what an influence Robbie Savage has been.

"Let's make it clear, we want to help Wales all we can and I hope that they get to the Euro finals. But this is about there being a relationship between clubs and country, not a war. We will do all we can to assist but wanted them to show a bit of leeway as well."

Savage was relieved that the conflict had reached a conclusion. "I'm just delighted that it has been sorted out. From the outset it was important for me to play for Birmingham City and Wales," he said. "I've just kept my mouth shut. I've been in the middle and I've left it to the authorities to sort it out.

"I want to help Birmingham hopefully get some more points in our bid to stay in the Premiership and I also want to play a part in helping Wales get to the European Championship finals in 2004. We've got a great chance. I can understand both parties and Mark Hughes wants to do what is best for Wales, but having to play the two games in four days will not be a problem for me."

Hughes' team are top of Group Nine with maximum points after a 2-0 away win over Finland and last month's 2-1 home victory over Italy. Azerbaijan are bottom of the group after losing their first two games.