Serie A players to strike over contract dispute
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The Italian football players association (AIC) on Friday announced plans to strike on September 25 and 26 to protest against plans by league bosses to reduce their rights in transfer dealings.
AC Milan defender Massimo Oddo, a spokesman for the AIC, said the body had agreed with all Serie A teams that no player would turn up to play on those matchdays "unless a new contracts system is established".
A collective contract between the AIC and league bosses guaranteeing players' rights expired during the summer, however talks on renewing that deal failed, leading to the current impasse.
Clubs now want the power to insist that players who are in the final year of their contracts must accept a transfer to another, equally competitive club.
If the player disagrees, he must buy out the final year of his contract at 50 percent of its worth.
Oddo added: "The strike is to protest against the failure to renew the last contract but is also against current aims to reduce the status of players to simple objects."
Italian league (Lega) president, Maurizio Beretta, later hit out at the AIC's decision, which he effectively qualified as blackmail.
"To come to the negotiating table with a loaded gun is not the best way to go about looking for an agreement," he told Rai television.
"To come out and threaten to strike is an extremely serious position to take. A bad example is being shown to other professional sports in this country, sports that are experiencing serious financial problems."
Beretta said the AIC "would do better to wait until the meeting on Monday," which has been scheduled between players and league officials.
AFP