The Spanish Footballers Association (AFE) threatened on Wednesday to strike over controversial plans to play a La Liga match in the United States during 2018/19.
The AFE maintained its stance against La Liga’s decision and said they were “willing to go as far as it takes”.
After a meeting between all the captains, including Real Madrid‘s Sergio Ramos and Barcelona‘s Sergio Busquets, David Aganzo, president of the AFE, stated that he intends to hold a meeting in September with La Liga chief Javier Tebas where he will share all the complaints the players have made.
The decision by La Liga has been blasted as based only on “money and business”.
Although the aim is to avoid it, Aganzo did not rule out strike action if the issues are not resolved, issues that include the scheduling and financial situation behind the agreement.
“The players are outraged,” he said during his press conference after the meeting with the captains.
“We are tired of these unilateral decisions that directly affect the players like this plan of playing outside Spain.”
"The players are against it. It was unanimous. Some clubs are in favour and others against"
— AS English (@English_AS) 22 August 2018
Spanish Footballers Association president speaks on behalf of "outraged" LaLiga captains over move to play in the USAhttps://t.co/7MADoScEnh pic.twitter.com/zpDFEe0aJ4
La Liga chiefs announced last Thursday that they planned to stage a match in America as part of an expansion drive.
The teams and the venue were not disclosed but El Pais newspaper said the match would take place during the current 2018/19 season and would probably feature either Barca or Real as one of the teams.
“If not at the end of September or the beginning of October we will have to start acting,” said Aganzo, adding the union was “prepared to go to the end”, evoking the possibility of a strike.
“We are used to seeing football played only for money and business,” added Aganzo who said La Liga officials no longer take into account “the health and risk for the players”.
The national supporters federation (FASFE) described the plan to move a match to the US as an “aberration”.
La Liga earned €3.6 billion in revenue during the 2016/2017 season, nearly 40 per cent of which came from TV rights and generated a pre-tax profit of €234 million.
For the 2017/2018 season, La Liga said it hoped to exceed for the first time the €4 billion mark in revenue.
