Pele has pledged his support for a players strike in his native Brazil.
The Brazilian legend believes the country’s players would be justified going on strike in their pursuit of unpaid wages.
“These players don’t know how much power they’ve got,” he said..
“If they go on strike for three or four weeks and there’s no football on television, it will be chaos.”
“They are not united, in other professions, there are protests for wage increases and against delays in the payment of salaries. But some players don’t get paid for three or four months and nothing happens.”
Pele’s comments come amid reports that players at Flamengo have gone two months without wages and four without receiving payment for image rights.
World Cup winner Pele has also slammed Brazil’s chances of hosting the FIFA’s premier tournament in 2014,
“Today the only stadium which is good enough to hold a game is Athletico Paranaense’s ” (the Arena da Baixada) “None of the others meet FIFA standards,”
Under the rotation system employed, South America are due to host the World Cup in 2014 with all Federations backing Brazil as the sole candidate.
