Indonesia’s football association slammed a rebel league yesterday after a Paraguayan player who reportedly had not been paid for months fell ill and died because he couldn’t afford medical treatment.

Diego Mendieta, 32, a striker for Persis Solo, died from a viral infection, reports said, adding he was owed four months’ salary of about 120 million rupiah ($12,500) and was unable to pay for treatment or fly home.

The incident is the latest scandal to hit Indonesian football, troubled by a rivalry between the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) and the breakaway Liga Super which could see the country expelled from FIFA.

“Mendieta’s death raises questions of how he was treated by Liga Super’s management. Why was he not paid his salary for so long?” PSSI official Rudolf Yesayas told AFP.

Mendieta reportedly died on Monday, one week before a deadline imposed by world football body FIFA for the rival associations to form a single federation or face possible sanctions.

Local reports said the player had cytomegalovirus, a common infection which is usually harmless but can be life-threatening for people with weakened immune systems.

FIFPro, the body representing professional footballers worldwide, said it was “shocked” by the incident and urged Indonesia to “make an end to the structural mismanagement of countless football clubs”.