Rangers and Celtic face selection disruption in 2022 after FIFA changed dates in the international window due to the ongoing pandemic.
Football's governing body is moving the early September transfer window to late January for all confederations - apart from UEFA.
This means that from January 24 until February 1, clubs will have to do without players from countries outside of Europe as they jet off on international duty.
Celtic face losing Tom Rogic and Ismalia Soro if picked for Australia and Ivory Coast respectively. Although currently on loan, Uruguayan Diego Laxalt would also be affected if he was to sign a permanent deal from AC Milan.
Rangers are likely to be even more affected. They have Leon Balogun and Joe Aribo from Nigeria, Bongani Zungu from South Africa, Scott Arfield from Canada and Alfredo Morelos from Colombia who would be all miss out on a week's action.
And the news could be worse for the three African players with January 2022 set as the month for the Africa Cup of Nations, a tournament that could take them out of club action for several weeks.
FIFA said in a statement: "In addition to the previous decisions by the FIFA Council, the Bureau of the Council has unanimously approved a set of further changes to the men’s and women’s international match calendars in response to the global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which persists in most parts of the world.
"These changes follow a thorough consultation process with the confederations and football stakeholders. This process resulted in proposals via the FIFA-Confederations COVID-19 Working Group that maintain the previously agreed principle that a tailor-made and flexible approach between confederations is required, reflecting the varied circumstances of the pandemic across the world."
The changes are detailed below:
- to replace the window from 31 August to 8 September 2020 with a window from 24 January to 1 February 2022 for all confederations except UEFA. This means that there is no mandatory release of players for member associations from these confederations in September 2020;
- to include the new period of January 2022 for the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), with the exact dates to be determined at a later stage; and
- to include the new dates of the Concacaf Gold Cup 2021 (preliminary rounds from 2 to 6 July 2021 and final tournament from 10 July to 1 August 2021) with a mandatory release starting on 28 June 2021.
