Players in Uruguay's top two leagues boycotting games over collective agreement

Soccer players in Uruguay's top two men's divisions have voted unanimously to boycott this weekend's games amid a battle over their collective agreement, global players union FIFPRO said on Friday.

The Uruguayan Professional Footballers' Union (MUFP) voted early on Thursday not to play the games, with the objective being an updated and approved collective agreement to the existing one signed in 2007.

The boycott allows for training.

"We have been in collective bargaining for 22 months and, to date, we are still waiting for a response from the clubs," Mitchell Duarte, general secretary of MUFP, told FIFPRO. "We understand that we have gone down the necessary road at the necessary time. We need to take this kind of action to focus attention and to achieve a defined outcome."

The MUFP has been trying to negotiate for several months with the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) and the Professional Football Council, which is made up of the 16 First Division and 14 Second Division clubs.

Duarte said wages, particularly in the second division, are "quite low".

"The biggest difficulties we have encountered are in the salary increase in the Second Division," Duarte said. "That has been the central focus of much of the discussion, but the strike covers all professional divisions."

The AUF did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

"There has been no real wage increase since 2007, and we have remained in this situation for a long time," he added. "Despite the updates through the FIFA regulations and statutes, we still have a collective agreement that dates back sixteen years, and we are quite behind in a lot of aspects - this is something that concerns us."

Duarte said that until the issue is rectified, it will be