Ecuadorian Footballers' Association (AFE) Manager Jorge Guzmán announced on Sunday that Ecuador's professional football players will go on strike on Wednesday. Guzmán said, "It's confirmed. There will be no championship games on Wednesday or next Sunday. There won't be any games played on Wednesday. The players are going to put everything on hold out of solidarity, and I don't think there will be any reprisals from the clubs that are in fact up to date." Guzmán added that games scheduled for Sunday will not be played either unless there is an agreement with the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) this week. Guzmán: "We are not going to change at this stage. We have already tried by every means to get them to come to a reconciliation with us, but they (the executives) ended the talks." Guzmán said that the only way to avert the strike was for the FEF to sit down and negotiate with the AFE. He added, "We want them to repeal some articles of the implementing regulations that are unconstitutional, such as those saying players have to wait three months for their pay. I am not the only witness: the whole country knows that the FEF ruled that clubs like Barcelona had to pay (wages) for March by next week. But they (the FEF) approved of the clubs having sixty days in which to pay their players, and they didn't comply with that either." Seven clubs are not up to date on payments to their players, with two -- Barcelona and Deportivo Quito -- owing players money from as far back as March (FIFPro).
