Spanish Soccer Strike Ends as Players Reach Agreement With the League

Soccer matches in Spain’s top two divisions will go ahead this weekend after players called off a strike that wiped out the opening round of games.

The players’ union, AFE, ended the dispute after reaching an agreement with the professional league that guarantees the amount of money more than 200 players are owed by clubs, the union said on its website today.

Another accord will allow players who are owed three months of their salaries, or the equivalent amount, to leave their club and sign with another, AFE said.

The second round of games is scheduled for this weekend and Aug. 29. The opening games for the top division, which should have been played last weekend, will be rescheduled for Jan. 22, with the games from that weekend moving to May 2, the league said. In the second division, the games due to have been played last weekend will move to Oct. 26.

Players said Aug. 11 they’d strike the first two weeks of the season. The stoppage was “absolutely unjustified” and “sterile,” the league said at the time.

The players’ union today expressed its thanks for “the patience and understanding of all those who might have been affected by a measure that we see as fair and legitimate.”

Juanjo Montaner, a spokesman for AFE, didn’t respond to telephone calls.

To contact the reporter on this story: Manuel Baigorri in Madrid at mbaigorri@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net