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Peru’s Players to Boycott National Team Call-Ups
July 26, 2009

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World Cup

Lima. Peru could forfeit its World Cup qualifiers next month after about 500 players sent letters of resignation to the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF), local media reported on Saturday.

The players will disregard national team call-ups until the FPF agrees to reforms in the game that they see as essential to pull Peru out of a slump that has it at the bottom of South America’s 10-nation World Cup qualifying group, they said.

Peru, which has one win and seven points after 14 matches, is at home to Uruguay on Sept. 5 and away to Venezuela three days later.

“The resignation was made official [Friday] and there are no more deadlines,” said Fernando Revilla, the manager of the players’ union (Safap). “Whether we lift the measure afterward is another matter.”

“The resignation will be lifted if we reach some agreements,” he was quoted as saying by the daily El Comercio’s Web site. “There is a will on both sides, and that’s good.”

Much-criticized FPF president Manuel Burga was quoted on the Web site libero.com as saying: “[The resignation] lacks substance and validity. If we get to an extreme measure, the players are the ones who stand to lose.”

Safap and the FPF have been at loggerheads for months over issues the union sees as having undermined the game in Peru, once one South America’s s tronger nations and rated third best in the region during the 1970s.

Although there was some way to go in negotiations for better working conditions for players, who often find themselves being owed back wages by impoverished clubs, Friday’s meeting made some ground, Safap president Francesco Manassero said.

“The meeting was good, we advanced quite a bit with regard to what we want, although there are several points still to be resolved,” Manassero told futbolperuano.com.

“These meetings and the federation’s willingness to listen and comply with our requirements have been a point in favor of Peruvian football.”

Reuters