USM Alger’s players have threatened to go on strike over unpaid salaries, reports Ducor Sports.
The North African club slipped into financial trouble in June after the club owner and Algeria top businessman Ali Haddad was jailed for holding two passports.
The players have now released a statement, which was published on the club Facebook page, in which they threatened to skip CAF Champions League two-leg tie against Gor Mahia.
“After the match last Sunday against AS Ain Mlila, the players requested a meeting with the technical staff and the general secretary of the club to announce a decision they had taken, to stop all activity in protest against the situation at the club which had not improved.,” read the statement.
“The players, therefore, decided to be present at the training session scheduled today [Wednesday] at 17:30, and to train again on Thursday before observing a true cessation of activity. They called a protest, stating that it was intended for the management, not for the supporters nor the club itself.”
“As a reminder, USM Alger players have not received their salaries for six months, while the new ones have not received any salary since joining the club, for reasons that everyone knows.”
The club made to the first round of the competition after defeating Niger’s SONIDEP in the preliminaries on a 5-2 aggregate score and at that time the club secretary Mounir Debichi told reporters about the situation.
“Today we qualified for the second round of the Champions League but we are unable to travel to Kenya to play against Gor Mahia. We can (afford) to play the first game here. However, it is impossible to travel to Kenya for the second match given our financial difficulties. There has to be an immediate solution or else we should forget about the competition.”
USM Alger are scheduled to host the Kenyan champions in Algiers on the weekend of September 13-15, with the return leg slated for Nairobi two weeks later.
The winning team over two legs is assured at least $ 540,000 in prize money from the tournament organisers.
