ZIFA has demanded that French Ligue 1 side Stade de Reims release “injured” Marshall Munetsi so that he can be assessed by Zimbabwean doctors.
This comes the French team had refused to release the Warriors midfielder for the back-to-back 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against the Red Foxes of Algeria claiming that he had suffered an injury on Sunday.
Zimbabwe plays Algeria on Thursday before the return match at the National Sports Stadium on Monday and Munetsi’s absence is a huge blow for Warriors coach Zdravko Loga Logarušić after some more players including United States-based Tatenda Mukuruva have since pulled out of the ties.
Warriors general manager Wellington Mupandare said they had written back to Reims demanding that Munetsi’s release so that he could be assessed by the national team doctors. He said:
We have asked them to release the player so that he can be assessed by our doctors this side.
Clubs, especially from Europe, have regularly clashed with national teams for the release of their players, and should they refuse to report for national team duty, the club risk a fine by Fifa.
Recently, Tanzania-based Prince Dube pulled out of the Warriors friendly against Malawi after he had allegedly suffered an injury only to feature and score a brace for his club, Azam FC, 24 hours after the Warriors match.
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