South Africa football legend Neil Tovey says a club-versus-country tug of war over the team that will compete in an Olympic Games qualifying tournament from this weekend is a "disgrace".
Egypt will host the November 8-22 competition for under-23 footballers in Cairo that also involves South Africa, Cameroon, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Nigeria and Zambia.
The top three finishers qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games, hoping to emulate gold medallists Nigeria (1996) and Cameroon (2000).
Each country is permitted a 21-man squad, but when the South Africans arrived in Cairo this week they had just 12 players.
A FIFA international window spans November 11 to 19 and top-flight clubs in the republic are refusing to release outside of those dates any players chosen for Egypt.
"It is a disgrace. It is downright diabolical that they cannot have the best players," said Tovey, who captained South Africa to the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations title.
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The 57-year-old is the South African Football Association (Safa) technical director.
"This is a sad state of affairs -- begging clubs for players. The squad was changed six or seven times in 10 days before the final announcement.
"It has been an absolute nightmare for weeks, trying to put it together. Clubs must stop being selfish in their approach." South Africa is one of a few African countries where football is not controlled exclusively by the national association.
There is a separate body that governs top-level club football and flexes its muscles occasionally by clashing with Safa over issues that include player availability.
South Africa are in Group B with Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Zambia and unless the clubs relent, will have a full squad only for the second match against the Ivorians.
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"All the players feature regularly in the domestic league and are experienced."