Jose Luis Astiazaran, President of the Spanish League, Liga de Futbol Profesional (LFP), has responded to his counterpart Luis Rubiales of the Spanish Footballers’ Association (AFE), in the wake of his announcement that the players intend to go on strike.
In protest at talks having broken down between the LFP and AFE over collective agreements in player contracts, the AFE’s Rubiales, with the support of some high-profile League players, announced today their intention to refuse to play the opening two rounds of the Primera and Segunda Division. With a round of international matches to be played on September 2 and 6, this would effectively push back the season’s start date to September 11.
The dispute centres predominantly on the AFE seeking assurances that money owed in unpaid wages to as many as 200 footballers – put at €50m by Rubialas today – should be guaranteed by the League. The League have reportedly only offered to guarantee for €7m of that, whilst the issue of clubs repeating the scenario of not paying players also remains in the air, along with other details such as player holiday and image rights. Talks broke down on Monday, and the AFE have subsequently stated through Rubialas that they will not begin the League until the dispute is settled.
Astiazaran responded to that stance in an interview with Europa Press: “I do not understand why the AFE calls for a strike, there are no reasons to call it at this time. We have two months working with them to set up a new collective agreement, and have already approved two important issues for relations with the players and other members of the football family.”
The LFP’s President pointed to the AFE being in agreement with July 12’s introduction of the Reglamento de Control Econ
