© EuroFootball.com
On August 18, the first round of the upcoming Spanish "Primera" league championship may be postponed indefinitely.
The reason for this is the protest of thirteen teams who believe that the distribution of funds received from television broadcasts by the championship organizers is unfair.
After a meeting, representatives of Bilbao "Athletic", Madrid "Atletico", Seville "Betis", Vigo "Celta", Barcelona "Espanyol", Madrid "Getafe", "Granada", "Mallorca", Pamplona "Osasuna", Madrid "Rayo Vallecano", San Sebastian "Sociedad", "Sevilla" and Zaragoza "Real" not only openly expressed their dissatisfaction with the current organization of the championship, but also threatened to take extreme measures - to disrupt the start of the Spanish national championship and not play the matches of the first round.
"We believe that the decisions of the current league leadership and development policy are at the very least disrespectful. Clubs are in the dark - the management of "Primera" cannot agree with the television companies, which hold the rights to broadcast the matches. We invite the league leadership to urgently convene an extraordinary meeting on August 14 and urgently address the most relevant organizational issues," said a joint statement issued by the aforementioned thirteen clubs.
The dissatisfied teams demand that the television companies immediately repay their debts for broadcast matches. They also seek to eliminate any restrictions and sanctions in negotiating the sale of broadcasting rights. The championship organizers are asked to establish a clearer schedule for matches and ensure that the funds received for broadcasting competitions are distributed transparently and fairly.
Representatives of some clubs also expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the championship organizers decided to hold some matches of the first and second rounds at 11 pm local time.
"If attempts to find compromises and reach agreements fail, we reserve the right to take any measures at our discretion, and also, if necessary, to hold a strike on August 18, when the matches of the first round should be played," the statement warned.
Strikes in Spanish championships are not new. At the end of the summer of 2011, due to footballers' protests, the opening matches of the "Primera" and "Segunda" leagues were postponed. At the beginning of last season, the country's footballers association (AFE) threatened to strike and demanded that league leaders provide additional guarantees in case clubs were unable to pay players' wages on time. That time, the players' representatives fulfilled their threats - negotiations stalled and all teams did not play the matches of the first round on time.
Twenty teams compete in the top division of the country's football league.
