By David Gold
February 14 – The Spanish football league (LFP) has ended negotiations with the country’s players union (AFE) on a deal over wages in a move which threatens to cause another player’s strike.
La Liga and the Segunda Liga were postponed by a week at the start of the season by a strike over unpaid player wages which AFE claim amount to as much as €50 million (£44 million/$67 million) in recent times.
With debt in Spanish football spiralling and currently standing at €3.5 billion (£3.1 billion/$5.1 billion), attempts have been made to tackle both this problem and the non-payment of wages.
Before this season began, the LFP created a body which can sanction teams whose finances do not meet certain criteria, while the Government has brought in regulations preventing teams going into administration to avoid paying player wages.
A preliminary deal was reached to end the strike at the start of the season but it was announced by both the LFP and AFE that the league had broken off talks this week.
“After months of talks, the LFP yesterday felt obliged to break off negotiations over a Collective Accord for professional soccer given the intransigence of the AFE’s position at the table,” an LFP statement said.
In response, the players union released a statement reading: “This position of the LFP has been a surprise to AFE, given the existing good atmosphere between the two parties.”
AFE suggested that the LFP’s decision was due to external factors and said that they were keen to return to the negotiating table.
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