Brazil 'Ansu Fati' not allowed to play in u-17 World Cup

Brazil, the hosts of the under-17 World Cup, experienced their own 'Ansu Fati case' this week. Reinier Jesus Carvalho, their big star, is not in the list of 21 footballers that needed to be sent to FIFA on 16 October for the tournament. Flamengo, his club, pulled out of a 'gentleman's agreement' according to Branco, the man over the underage structure at Brazil.

The Brazil football federation sent their list to FIFA for the World Cup, much like Spain, on Wednesday. It was the final date to send a definitive list. In the list they made three swaps from the original set of names: Gabriel Noga (Flamengo), Pedro Lucas (Gremio) and Lázaro (Flamengo) replace Paulo Eduardo, Juan and Reinier (the first two are due to injury).

The cases of Fati and Reinier are not entirely the same because in Brazil, the clubs are not obliged to let the players leave. In Spain, according to the rule, clubs are supposed to let the players leave. Flamengo have decided that Reinier won't go even though the manager, Guilherme Dalla Dea, called him up. In Fati's case, the federation decided not to call him because according to David Gordo: "he is for the teams above that age group."

The Brazilian football federation are not taking it lying down though and have asked that FIFA include the youth games into their official schedule. They came to the agreement with Flamengo that they could have Reinier but the club did not hold up their end of the bargain. The situation is bad at the moment unless more footballers leave to play in Europe.