Delay threat to La Liga

The Spanish professional footballers’ union are threatening to force a delay to the start of the new season if an agreement cannot be reached over a wage guarantee fund.

Luis Manuel Rubiales, the president of the AFE union, is currently in dispute with the Liga de Futbol Profesional (LFP) over a fund to protect players’ wages in the event of their clubs being declared insolvent.

Rubiales has pinpointed next Monday as the date for a “minimum agreement” to be reached and insisted on Radio Marca that the season cannot begin without consensus on this matter.

He said: “La Liga has to start when the problems are truly resolved with a will that we do not see from the LFP at the moment.

“We are very disappointed. We do not see how a league that is growing in income by eight to 10 per cent each year has a fund that has more restrictions on it than in earlier agreements, and that may not be approved (by the AFE).”