The Italian footballers’ association (AIC) have announced their decision to go on strike for the weekend 25-26 September.
The decision was taken by the association in protest at plans by Serie A bosses to reduce their rights in transfer dealings.
After a previous contract between the AIC and league bosses over players’ rights expired during the summer, negotiations on a new deal reached an impasse.
The reason for this was the clubs’ desire to insist that players in the final year of their contracts must accept a transfer to another equally competitive club. If a player does not agree, he would have to buy out the final year of his contract at 50 per cent of its worth.
AC Milan defender Massimo Oddo (above), 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.â€
“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,” Oddo added.
Italian league (Lega) president, Maurizio Beretta, later hit out at the AIC’s decision, which he effectively qualified as blackmail, especially in light of the financial troubles being experienced by other sporting organisations in the country.
“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.
