Talks resume over Spanish players' strike
Reuters - Friday 19 August 2011, 08:12
MADRID - The Spanish football league (LFP)
will resume talks with the players' union (AFE) on Friday to try
and stop strike action that is threatening to halt the start of
the season in the country's top two divisions this weekend.
A series of meetings have been scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Monday at the offices of the LFP,
who represent the 42 professional football clubs that make up La
Liga and the second division.
Time is tight if the sides are to prevent a fixture backlog
in a calendar with few spaces available to reschedule matches.
The international Euro 2012 tournament starts in June and
prevents them simply rolling back the existing La Liga timetable
past its current end date of May 13.
The AFE, who are demanding greater protection for players'
wages at clubs who have gone into financial administration, last
week called a strike for the first two rounds of matches in the
top two leagues.
The AFE say around 50 million euros is owed by
clubs to more than 200 players, and that a proposed emergency
fund of 40 million euros put forward by the LFP was not enough.
The first meeting between the sides on Wednesday ended
quickly with no resolution.
The strike action covers Friday to Monday inclusive over the
next two weekends.
Some clubs have put out statements saying training had been
suspended until Tuesday next week.
Real Madrid have scheduled a session on Friday afternoon and
Barcelona said Monday's friendly against Napoli would go ahead
as planned.