English clubs set for club-versus-country battle

England's biggest football clubs are prepared to ban their foreign stars from playing internationals.

The warning comes from Arsenal chief executive David Dein, who predicts that if there is not a radical re-drawing of the international calendar within the next 12 months the simmering club-versus-country row will degenerate into all-out conflict.

"We pay the players. We are in command of the players' salaries. They work for us first and foremost," Dein told BBC TV.

"We're happy to release them but it's a question of balance. There has to be a total revolution in the fixture calendar. Otherwise the clubs will say we're not going to release our players."

The first big test could come in the Confederations Cup in France. FIFA has called on Europe's top clubs to release their players for the June 18-29 tournament
But Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has already said his French stars Thierry Henry, Silvain Wiltord, Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira need a break from football.

And Real Madrid president Florentino Perez said last week that if Real was still in the running for their domestic title then he would not release Brazil World Cup stars Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos and French stars Zinedine Zidane and Claude Makelele for the start of the tournament.