Peru’s Primera Division has been left in chaos amid a player strike and a threat of closure from one of its top clubs.
Peruvian Football Federation (FPF) president Manuel Burga has reportedly travelled to Switzerland for talks with FIFA as the country’s top flight got off to a shambolic start at the weekend. Reuters reports that a number of clubs fielded youth teams with players on strike over money owed by the majority of clubs, including leading outfits Universitario and Alianza Lima.
Players’ union SAPAF called the strike after rejecting a plan from the league organisers ADFP for clubs to refinance their debts. SAPAF chief Francesco Manassero told Blanco y Negro radio: “They gave us no way out. If we let them decide the amount (of the debts) and how much they should pay us we’re going to be waiting until the end of time. We cannot allow the players to be mistreated. Here it seems normal to owe four or five months’ wages and to want to refinance that in two years. All this is the consequence of the clubs and the FPF’s apathy in not doing anything to resolve this conflict.”
Meanwhile, officials from San Martin, which won the domestic title for three consecutive seasons from 2007-08 to 2009-10, have threatened to dissolve the club because its players joined the strike. San Martin refused to send a youth team to face Melgar, therefore forfeiting the points from the game.
“We will withdraw from the championship and the club will be closed,” general manager Alvaro Barco told the El Comercio newspaper. “We feel the players have turned their backs on us.”
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Peru’s Primera Division has been left in chaos amid a player strike and a threat of closure from one of its top clubs.
Peruvian Football Federation (FPF) president Manuel Burga has reportedly travelled to Switzerland for talks with FIFA as the country’s top flight got off to a shambolic start at the weekend. Reuters reports that a number of clubs fielded youth teams with players on strike over money owed by the majority of clubs, including leading outfits Universitario and Alianza Lima.
Players’ union SAPAF called the strike after rejecting a plan from the league organisers ADFP for clubs to refinance their debts. SAPAF chief Francesco Manassero told Blanco y Negro radio: “They gave us no way out. If we let them decide the amount (of the debts) and how much they should pay us we’re going to be waiting until the end of time. We cannot allow the players to be mistreated. Here it seems normal to owe four or five months’ wages and to want to refinance that in two years. All this is the consequence of the clubs and the FPF’s apathy in not doing anything to resolve this conflict.”
Meanwhile, officials from San Martin, which won the domestic title for three consecutive seasons from 2007-08 to 2009-10, have threatened to dissolve the club because its players joined the strike. San Martin refused to send a youth team to face Melgar, therefore forfeiting the points from the game.
“We will withdraw from the championship and the club will be closed,” general manager Alvaro Barco told the El Comercio newspaper. “We feel the players have turned their backs on us.”
Watch live sports online with our high quality flash sports streams.
Click here to watch now!
