Daily Times

BUENOS AIRES: Argentina’s government said Thursday it paid $22 million dollars to the country’s Football Association to avert a players’ strike over unpaid wages that threatened to disrupt the new season. The Argentina Footballers’ Union (AFA) had threatened to strike on the first day of the season Friday in a dispute over redistribution of broadcasting revenues. It said some players had not been paid for four months because the state had failed to redistribute broadcasting revenues to their clubs. In a decision published in the official journal, the government approved the payment of 350 million pesos ($22 million) to the AFA, which will pass it on to clubs. A crisis in the AFA has disrupted Argentine domestic football and the national team. It has sparked criticism by the likes Diego Maradona.