The European Club Association is refusing to join FIFA talks on creating an international match calendar after another breakdown in their working relationship.

FIFA has invited world football stakeholders to a meeting on 5 March in Zurich to discuss when clubs must release players for national team matches from 2015 through the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The 200-member group of clubs said yesterday that chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and general secretary Michele Centenaro declined their invitations.

The ECA believes FIFA packs the schedule with too many international matches, and won’t insure the salary of players injured on national duty.

Clubs want the calendar to include six double-header dates for international matches in a two-year tournament qualification cycle, while FIFA and UEFA prefer nine. They also want to abolish single-match dates for friendlies in February and August.

Europe’s top clubs will present their own proposals at a 27-28 February meeting in Warsaw, Poland.

Troubled relations could affect the release of players for the London Olympic tournament beginning in July. That tournament is not protected on the FIFA calendar and clubs are not obliged to let their players attend at a key time for preseason preparations and Champions League qualifying.

The ECA has had input to the FIFA calendar process through its consultation with UEFA.