Soccer Australia's acting chief executive officer Ian Holmes has vowed to defy a recommendation from FIFA that Australia and France pick only one player from each club for their friendly in Melbourne on November 11th.
"Australian soccer fans have waited three years to see an Australian A team play on home soil," Holmes said today.
"We are not going to allow FIFA, Arsenal or Europe's big clubs, who think they control the game, to deny them that opportunity," Holmes said.
"This is an act of malevolence by arrogant, self-indulgent clubs, in particular Arsenal," Holmes said.
World governing body FIFA, acting on pressure from the clubs, sent out a recommendation to Australian and French soccer authorities urging them to pick just one player from each club.
The recommendation followed a petition, organised by Arsenal and signed by 11 European clubs with French internationals in their squad, to oppose the lengthy trip.