Spanish women players call off strike after reaching pay agreement

Unions representing players in Spain’s women’s football league have called off their strike after reaching an agreement on minimum wages, the Futbol Profesional Femenino (FPF) organisation said on Thursday.

The players went on strike at the start of the month before the first two fixtures of the season after failing to reach an agreement with the league on better conditions and pay.

“The commitment and repeated efforts of the clubs during the negotiation process have made a fundamental contribution to achieving the much-needed peace scenario without losing sight of the sustainability of the competition,” the FPF said in a statement.

“A scenario that we hope will show the way to the rest of the institutions that form part of Spanish sport and allow the project of women’s professional football to move forward.”

The FPF is the organising body of the top league of women’s soccer in Spain.

The strike was not related to the furore over Luis Rubiales, who resigned this week as head of the Spanish football federation amid widespread condemnation of his kiss on the lips of Spanish player Jenni Hermoso at the medal ceremony after the national side’s World Cup victory last month.

The entire World Cup-winning squad and other leading female footballers in Spain have said they will boycott the national women’s team while the current leadership of that federation remains in place.

The parties signed an agreement for the next three seasons, guaranteeing a minimum salary of 21,000 euros for the current season, with the potential to rise to 23,000 euros depending on the growth of commercial income.

The minimum salary for next season will be 22,500 euros, with the potential to rise up to 25,000 euros, and the minimum salary for the final season covered by the agreement has been set at 23,500 euros, potentially increasing to 28,000 euros.