La Liga stars prepared to strike over plans to host top-flight game in United States

Getty Images
Alex Young @alexwsyoung23 August 2018

La Liga players are prepared to go on strike over plans to host a top-flight match in the United States.

The Spanish players' union (AFE) on Wednesday held a meeting with a number of leading stars from the league, including Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos and Barcelona vice-captain Sergio Busquets, in which voted unanimously against the proposal.

La Liga agreed a 15-year deal with US media company Relevent on Friday to promote football in North America, a decision La Liga president Javier Tebas called "ground-breaking".

But the AFE said on its website following the meeting that unless satisfactory agreements are reached the players had agreed "to adopt the appropriate measures of force".

AFE president David Aganzo said: "The captains are outraged and so they have transferred it to us with completeness. We need to fix many things with the employer.

"The footballer does not agree with making decisions unilaterally, among other things, about playing games outside of Spain. We cannot forget that we are the protagonists, along with fans and referees.

"We are willing to go to the end. Football players do not just think about money, we think about health, our fans.

"You have to be more sensible. It is disrespectful to have signed an agreement for 15 years with an American multi-national.

"They have not informed us of anything and it is not the first time it happened, it is one more. The players are not for sale because, I repeat, we do not just think about the money."

Additional reporting by Press Association.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in