Professional soccer players are well-paid and have perfect lives right?
Not in Guatemala.
One of Guatemala’s professional clubs, Coatepeque, reportedly didn’t pay its players for almost three months. Also, the official soccer governing body of Guatemala appears to be refusing to recognize the Guatemalan Players Association as an actual union.
This has sparked protests from Guatemalan players.
Players from Guatemala’s top two teams, Municipal and Comunicaciones, are boycotting the Guatemala National Team until the situation is rectified.
One would think the existence of a players union would help persuade clubs to actually pay their players on time.
The scandal has even reached the United States, where Seattle Sounders midfielder Marco Pappa is refusing to play for the Guatemala National Team in a show of solidarity with his fellow players.
Pappa won the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball at the 2014 Copa Centroamerica for Guatemala.
The president of the Guatemala players group that is behind this is former MLS standout Carlos Ruiz, who now plays for Municipal in Guatemala.
The situation was explained in an article on futbolmls.com that is unfortunately (for me, at least) in Spanish.
