Spanish players extend strike

Spanish league footballers will extend their strike over pay to the second day of the new season next weekend, the players’ professional association said yesterday.

“The strike will continue for the second day of the season,” Luis Gil, spokesman for the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE), said after the latest negotiations at the AFE’s headquarters.

“The main problem remains the salaries that have not been paid to players,” Gil added. “I understand that people want to see football, but we must first think of the footballers who are having a tough time.”

Spain’s top football clubs had been meeting with players to prevent the strike spreading to a second match day in the lucrative Primera Liga, with hundreds of players complaining they have not been paid.

“The two sides remain very far from agreement but we are continuing to work” for a solution, Gil told reporters.

The vice-president of the Professional Football League (LFP), Francisco Catalan, added: “I think that something positive can come from today’s meeting,” without giving details.

Catalan said there would be a further meeting between the league and the players’ association today.

Players in the first and second went on strike on the first match day Saturday and delayed the season start for the first time in 27 years.

The AFE is demanding a wage guarantee and that players be allowed to break their contracts if they are not paid for three consecutive months, a proposal rejected by the league.