Footballers in Gabon are being treated as slaves through the systematic late payment of salaries, the head of the country’s players union told AFP.
Remy Ebanega’s outburst came in the wake of a damning FIFpro report which revealed that 95.6 percent of players from teams in Gabon have been paid late at some point.
“Its slavery,” said Ebanega, a former Gabon international and current president of the players union. If it’s not slavery what is it? When someone works for you for eleven months and then you just don’t pay them – this is the reality in 90 percent of the clubs here”.
“The club presidents have so much influence on the players, and the players are in turn afraid to speak out.”
At the root of endemic late payments is clubs banking on state subsidies that were far from guaranteed, coupled with a shortfall in self-financing, Ebanega said.
“No club has a clean budget. The state gives them money and then the club presidents sit on the cash,” he said.
The union is currently helping around 100 players to prosecute clubs for non-payment of salaries.
“It’s tough because many players have no contract and no pay-slips, nothing,” explained Ebanega. Around 90 percent of the 600 players in the top two divisions are in the same situation.”
The players union wants to establish an independent review body that would oversee club budgets ahead of each season, with clubs needing to be given the green light to start the new campaign.
A standard contract for all players has also been called for.
“We have had meetings with the Football Federation and with the Ministry of Sports and they were not very receptive to these ideas, although there was an acceptance that this could be for the good of Gabonese football,” Ebanega said.
Gabon played host to the latest edition of the Africa Cup of Nations in January and February, although it was marked by low attendances.
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