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Liverpool are hoping that FIFA will today give the green light for Joel Matip to return to action.

The Reds have been told to expect an announcement from the world governing body but there has been no indication what time it will be made.

FIFA will either declare that Matip is free to play for the club during the Africa Cup of Nations or launch an official investigation into the defender’s dispute with the Cameroon Football Federation.

If the latter is the case then it could be a further 10 days before Liverpool receive a ruling about the former Schalke centre back’s availability.

That would rule him out of tomorrow’s Premier League clash with Swansea City at Anfield, as well as the EFL Cup semi-final second leg with Southampton and next weekend’s FA Cup tie with Wolves.

Cameroon insist that Matip shouldn’t be allowed to play for the Reds for the duration of their Africa Cup of Nations campaign having turned down an international call-up.

Both Liverpool and Matip are adamant that the FIFA regulations don’t apply in this case because Matip had already retired from international football.

Jurgen Klopp was tempted to play Matip in Wednesday’s FA Cup replay at Plymouth but in the end he decided it wasn’t worth the risk after FIFA declared there would be a ruling today.

“We are sure we did nothing wrong. We are sure Joel Matip did nothing wrong,” Klopp said.“He didn’t play for Cameroon since 2015. He’s not in the squad of Cameroon in this moment so he could not play for Cameroon.”