Australia's Professional Footballers Association announced on Wednesday that Football Federation Australia had "withdrawn its recognition of the official players' union, in a move that has seen the relationship between the union and the governing body further deteriorate," according to ESPN. The PFA said that FFA's decision would take effect on Friday after a "breakdown in negotiations" between the two organizations over a new collective bargaining agreement. The PFA has represented Australia's national footballers since '93, but "could face the prospect of losing its power." The PFA said in a statement, "FFA's decision was communicated to the PFA as negotiations for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) reached an impasse when FFA terminated the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that has underpinned the game's relations with its players for the past eight years." But FFA responded with a statement of its own on Wednesday, "denying that the MOU had been removed." FFA CEO David Gallop said, "FFA continues to be committed to ensuring an appropriate MOU is agreed between FFA and the PFA, as part of a CBA, and any assertion that FFA intended to move forward without a CBA or MOU is wrong." Any kind of industrial action from players -- a strike has been speculated -- "could disrupt the ongoing FFA Cup, which is now in the Round of 16 stage," and the '15-16 A-League season, which begins in October (ESPN, 8/12).
