Joël Matip has finally been given the green light to play for Liverpool again after Fifa announced Cameroon had no hold over the defender.
Liverpool had become utterly exasperated by the confusion surrounding his eligibility during the Africa Cup of Nations after Cameroon announced they wanted the 25-year-old to play in Gabon.
Matip had made his position clear in the lead-up to the tournament that he had retired from international duty but, without any clarity or direction from Fifa over the player, Liverpool were left fearing punishment from the game’s governing body.
The Liverpool manager, Jürgen Klopp, had said: “Our understanding is Joël is retired from international football and we, the club, did everything we had to do to make this clear but until now we could not get the response we need to be 100% sure that he can play. It’s pretty difficult and pretty frustrating, to be honest. He’s been in training for five days and would have been in the squad, 100%, maybe on the pitch today, so I don’t think it’s fair. But we cannot do more and are still waiting on the decision. We could not take the risk.”
Finally, on Friday evening, the club received information from Fifa declaring that they were free to play Matip.
A club statement read: “Liverpool FC can confirm that all charges against the club and its player Joël Matip have been dismissed by Fifa following confirmation this evening from world football’s governing body.
“The club had requested Fifa to provide guidance on Matip’s eligibility after a complaint had been made by Fecafoot [the Cameroon FA] to Fifa concerning the player’s purported call-up to the Cameroon national team for the Africa Cup of Nations.
“Following Fifa’s ruling, the club now considers the player available for selection.”
Matip was withdrawn from Liverpool’s squad against Manchester United and also missed the subsequent FA Cup tie at Plymouth Argyle.
