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Spain’s footballers union threaten strike over US match

Spain's footballers union threatened on Wednesday to strike over controversial plans to play a La Liga match in the United States, blasting a decision based only on "money and business".

Spain's footballers union threaten strike over US match
Atletico Madrid's Spanish forward Diego Costa (R) challenges Valencia's defender Gabriel Paulista during La Liga match on Monday. Photo: AFP

“We are tired of these unilateral decisions that directly affect the players like this plan of playing outside Spain,” said David Aganzo, the president of the players union (AFE) after a meeting attended by a host of  stars including Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos and Barcelona's Sergio Busquets.

Spain's La Liga announced last Thursday that they planned to stage a match in North America as part of an expansion drive.

READ MORE: La Liga reveals plans to take Spanish soccer to United States

The teams and the venue were not disclosed but El Pais newspaper said the match would take place over the coming 2018-19 season and would probably feature either Barcelona or Real Madrid as one of the teams.

Aganzo said Wednesday that the AFE planned to meet La Liga chiefs in September to try and convince officials to give up on the plan.   

If not, at the “end of September or the beginning of October we will have to start acting,” said Aganzo adding the union was “prepared to go to the end”, evoking the possibility of a “strike”. 

“We are used to seeing football played only for money and business,” added Aganzo who said Liga officials no longer take into account “the health and risk for the players”.

The national supporters federation (FASFE) have described the plan to move a match to the United States as an “aberration”.   

La Liga earned 3.6 billion euros in revenues during the 2016-2017 season, nearly 40 percent of which came from TV rights and generated a pre-tax profit of €234 million. 

For the 2017-2018 season, La Liga said it hoped to exceed for the first time the four-billion-euro mark in revenue.

READ ALSO: Six new signings to watch in La Liga

RACISM

VIDEO: Spain’s La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

Spain's La Liga on Monday said it was reviewing a video of a child making racist insults towards Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend.

VIDEO: Spain's La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

“We’re in the process of studying and analysing the facts from a legal standpoint to see what we can and should do,” La Liga sources said.

In a video published by a journalist for ESPN Brasil, and picked up by Spanish media, a boy sitting in a woman’s lap can be heard calling Vinicius a “monkey”.

https://twitter.com/GravesenFumado/status/1764242481984491822

The Brazilian scored twice for Madrid as his team recovered from two goals down at Mestalla on Saturday.

Vinicius raised his fist in a “Black Power” salute after the first of his two goals at a ground where he was racially abused last season. Valencia subsequently banned three people from the stadium for life.

The 23-year-old has become a symbol of the fight against discrimination in Spanish football after suffering racist abuse on many occasions, and he was jeered repeatedly by home supporters on Saturday.

Jude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle against Valencia for protesting after the referee blew the final whistle right before the England midfielder headed home what he thought was the winning goal.

READ ALSO: Football star Vinicius highlights racist behaviour from Spanish fans

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