Serie A players have announced a strike for the weekend of September 25-26 due to a contract dispute.
The dispute centres around a proposal by club presidents to prevent players refusing transfers, as defender Fabio Grosso recently did with Juventus following an offer from Milan.
The clubs’ proposal stipulates that when a player has a year remaining on his contract, he must accept a transfer to another, equally competitive club that guarantees the same salary. If the player doesn’t accept the transfer, he must come to a mutual contract resolution with the club, according to the proposal.
The strike was announced in a statement read by Milan defender Massimo Oddo, signed by the captains and union representatives of all 20 Serie A clubs.
“The association, in perfect symphony with the players of Serie A, has decided not to go on the field for the fifth round of matches of the Serie A championship on September 25th and 26th in protest against requests to impose new contractual rules,” he told a news conference.
Players’ association (AIC) president Sergio Campana told the ANSA news agency. “I haven’t seen the players take such a decisive and universal stand in years. There hasn’t been any respect for the AIC considering that we’ve haven’t been told anything and have had to read the news in the newspapers.”
Campana added that Italian football federation president Giancarlo Abete had called the parties to a meeting in Rome on Monday.
“We hope that there will be positive developments,” Campana said.
