Blatter slams European clubs for under-20 World Cup no-shows

FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Thursday slammed Europe’s top clubs for refusing to free their young players to compete in the under-20 World Cup in Egypt.

“It’s not right that the big European clubs don’t free up their young players for the World Cup, when they don’t have any obligations and are not first team. When they aren’t playing they can’t gain experience,” said Blatter.

“It’s better for them to enjoy the second major world competition than to stay at home warming the substitutes bench.”

The under-20 World Cup event, which takes place from September 24 to October 16, will be without many up-and-coming stars as European clubs have been reluctant to let their players leave for nearly a month at the height of the season.

Favourites Germany and Italy arrived in Egypt without most of their stars.

The German clubs in August refused to release their players after a meeting with the German football Federation (DFB), while the Football Association (FA) was similarly understanding with English clubs.

Italy are without the likes of Roma’s Stefano Okaka Chuka, who scored a Serie A goal at just 16, as well as Genoa’s Silvano Raggio Garibaldi and Inter Milan’s Davide Santon.