Chile football frozen

Chilean football peaked at France 98

World Football finds out why it's not just the start of the Italian season that's been postponed...

For football fans in Chile, their appearance on the world stage in France 98 is now only a distant memory.

Chile missed out on a place in Japan/Korea after finishing rock-bottom of their qualifying group, and things have only got worse.

This week, the players and coaches voted to strike, and the league season has been suspended.

South American club football is experiencing serious financial difficulties, and Chile has been hit hard.

Ivan Zamorano in happier times at France 98

Average attendances in the first division are only four thousand, most of the players aren't getting paid, and even their most famous club, Colo Colo, has been declared bankrupt.

Striking is a desperate action for those players struggling to make ends meet, but they feel they have no choice, as former Colo Colo and Chile star Carlos Caszely explains.

"It's a very complicated situation that football is going through here in Chile" he says.

"Both the players and the national coaches have voted n favour of a strike until the problems over pay are solved - problems that are affecting 70 percent of teams in our country.

"It's a real problem of survival at the moment. The clubs haven't fulfilled the pay side of the contracts and most of the teams haven't been payed for 2 or 3 months.

"At the moment here in Chile there are players who earn only a hundred dollars a month, and that's not enough to live decently on.

"Apart from that they haven't been payed their other benefits like social security for two years, and that creates serious problems for players when they retire.

"The problem is the clubs are very dictatorial and they need to change their way of operating.

"Football is the most popular game here in Chile, and everyone is very worried, including the government, because if there is no football for six months the situation is going to get even worse".

"The situation has got to the point where the players have lost their patience" says Carlos Soto, the president of the player's union in Chile.

Chile's biggest club Colo Colo is bankrupt

"In Chile 70 percent of the players earn between one hundred and one thousand dollars a month. So when they stop playing for just a month this causes serious problems for their families. Nevertheless, the players' union has decided to see things through whatever the consequences.

"The solution is to establish a commission made up of the players union, the clubs and the government of Chile in order to resolve the problem once and for all. It is necessary to establish the responsibilities of those who administrate the clubs.

"I don't know if we'll see any football in Chile this year" says Soto.

"Because when a strike is declared you know when it begins but not when it might end. For the moment the championship is suspended".

You can hear all of Alan Green's report on Chile on World Football on Saturday 31 August. Use the audio link on the front page.