FIFPRO fully supports 29 footballers from Indonesian second-tier side Kalteng Putra, who are in a deplorable situation due to the behaviour of their club’s management.
FIFPRO requests the urgent intervention of the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) to solve the non-payment issues and to stop the disrespectful practice of the club.
Last weekend, the players refused to play a match in the fifth round of the Liga 2 play-off because they had not received their salaries.
The players felt forced to take this step. They had previously tried numerous ways to settle the matter and felt they were not being taken seriously when they could not meet with the owner and the management failed to live up to the promise it had made a week earlier. The players had initially refused to play the previous match in the fourth round of the Liga 2 play-off but changed their minds after management promised them to immediately pay the salary arrears, which however did not happen.
After the players announced they would not play the match in the fifth round, the club urged them to leave “for safety and security reasons”. After strangers visited their dormitory in the middle of the night demanding them to play the match, the players then returned home. To make matters worse, the club filed a criminal complaint against players who posted about the issues on their social media accounts.
We support the players of Kalteng Putra, who are simply asking the club to respect their basic rights as employees and pay them the salaries they are entitled to. It is disappointing that the leadership of Kalteng Putra is not only disrespecting player contracts by not paying their salaries but is also putting undue pressure on players by intimidating them via the initiation of criminal procedures. This strategy has been used previously in Indonesia and has been sanctioned by FIFA.
FIFPRO has notified FIFA of the matter and is insisting on the urgent intervention of PSSI to solve the situation.
