Footballers in Bolivia: "We can't go on any longer, the situation is unsustainable"

• Thirteen out of 16 Bolivian top-flight clubs have debts with their players of up to 18 months' wages 

• Meanwhile, the Bolivian Football Federation has decided clubs will play between six and seven matches in just 22 days, without adequate food and with exhausting trips 

• Two players and a medical expert who described the situation have shared their concerns with FIFPRO 

The critical situation experienced by footballers in Bolivia, which includes abuse and unpaid salaries for several months, entered a new stage when the Bolivian Football Federation (FBF) confirmed that the next six matchdays of the national first division championship – plus some rescheduled matches – will be played in a period of just 22 days.

The decision forces players to play matches every 48 hours – or even less – with the added risk to their health implied by the particular geographical conditions of the country, with some teams playing at several thousand meters above sea level and others in the plains.

The situation also includes the precarious conditions of food and transportation for the players, many of whom come to face this calendar imposed by the FBF in a state of alarm and extreme stress due to the lack of payment of their salaries. As a consequence, the quality of life for them as athletes, and of their families, has decreased.

"Us players are the architects of football but here in Bolivia we are asphyxiated," an experienced first division player, who asks to remain anonymous and be referred to as “Player A”, told FIFPRO.org. "We can't go on any longer, the situation is unsustainable. We are undervalued and humiliated. Those who enjoy football today are in sackcloth and tie in the offices."

Another player of many years as a professional, Player B, describes what they are experiencing as a collective: "Today we feel that the football player is the worst trash in Bolivia. There are very few who are doing well. Most of the 300 or 400 of us are having a hard time, we live from day to day. We are suffering a lot from this mistreatment."

FABOL, the Bolivian player union, and FIFPRO have repeatedly denounced the situation in Bolivia, for which the FBF has given no satisfactory response. In late September, FIFPRO South America sent a letter signed by around 250 players through its president, Sergio Marchi, to the International Labour Organization detailing the situation.

"It is unacceptable that today a team has seven or eight months of unpaid wages and that they compete freely in continental competition without anyone saying anything. If you don't pay, you have to find a way to say ‘there is a limit to this’. Otherwise, the player becomes a victim. It is a form of economic violence towards the player and their family that is irreversible," Marchi said in an interview published on FIFPRO.org.

Unpaid wages and fear of reprisals

The FBF's decision to expose the players to up to seven matches in 22 days comes in a very serious salary context. According to the latest data gathered by FABOL from professional teams, only three out of 16 clubs are up to date with paying salaries. Two others owe between one and two months' wages, while the remaining 11 clubs are between three and 18 months in arrears. In addition, agreed prizes are owed.

Player B details a situation he personally experiences and which is repeated in other teams: "I have colleagues who have borrowed money from me to eat or pay their rent. I'm ashamed that they ask me for 50 bolivianos [about USD 7] to be able to eat during the day. They are mainly young players who ask me because they can't afford it. I know that in other teams with debts of several months there are players who have had to leave their flat because they can't pay for it and two or three of them get together to live in one. Or they have problems to eat and have to borrow money from their parents."

Player A added: "We are asking for the most basic thing, which is to be paid to be able to support our families. We are not even talking about the bonuses."

Both Player A and Player B agree that, just as a few years ago actions of force were important to reverse injustices in Bolivian football, today it is very difficult to coordinate one to combat abuses for a common reason: fear of reprisals.

"Today the generation of footballers who are 36, 38 years old are afraid to speak out and have their rights respected for fear that they will not be re-signed or that they will be forced to retire. And the new generations have the fear that the following year nobody will hire them again. Those who are in the national team, for example, know that if they support them tomorrow they won't be called up again," reveals Player B.

Player A goes even further: “You can be dropped from the squad, accused of match-fixing, you can be prosecuted for doping or accused of breaching your contract... They can invent anything. The player is afraid of all that”.

FABOL insists that players are defenceless because there are no bodies that meet FIFA's requirements for resolving disputes, which is why these abuses are not reported due to the lack of legal certainty to do so.

Twenty-two days of high risk

In this context of high vulnerability and emotional stress, players will have to face six matches in 22 days, plus other rescheduled matches from previous dates, due to the FBF's decision to suspend the tournament to give priority to the national team in its commitments for the South American qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The accumulation of fixtures, due to the 15 December deadline for submitting the list of qualified clubs for CONMEBOL's international tournaments, will mean that several teams will sometimes play with only 48 hours rest and without the necessary conditions.

For example, San Jose de Oruro play in the Bolivian plains on matchday 24, followed by an ascent of up to 3,700 metres to play at home just 42 hours afterwards and will play a third match, also at altitude, 70 hours later. In total, they will play seven matches in 22 days.

The geographical characteristics of the country mean that clubs play between the 456 metres above sea level of Santa Cruz de la Sierra and the 4,150 metres of El Alto. Transfers between the two cities are usually by plane or even bus, with journeys that can take several hours.

Nacional de Potosi, where the nearest airport is three hours away and best accessed via pick-up truck, will play four matches in 10 days: two at home at 4,090 metres and two away on the plains in two different cities.

In 2020, in the wake of the pandemic, there was already a backlog of matches played in such a short space of time. Player A and Player B lived through the situation and tell their experience.

"By the third match I was feeling exhausted," recalls Player A. "We'd barely get to the first half when we'd ask for a change or the coach would take us off because there was no response on the pitch. You were like a zombie. Many team-mates suffered muscle contractures or tears.

"You can't even sleep when you travel to high altitude," he adds. "You play a high-intensity match on the plain, with a lot of heat and humidity, and then you travel the same day or the next to the altitude. Your legs are tired and your head explodes."

Player B gives his feelings about the string of matches plus the sudden change in altitude: "The days after, you're sleepy, tired, your body feels terrible. You even have swelling in your legs, they feel heavy. It even feels uncomfortable to put on your boots. It takes five days for your body to feel good after playing at altitude and the same for those who play in the lowlands who are used to the altitude.

"I remember the only thing we did to recover was to get on ice. We didn't have proper rest and we went to hotels without the minimum conditions. It was inhuman. Now we have no idea what it's going to be like, they didn't tell us anything, but the officials don't care about sending you by bus, just that you play the game. On a trip we made of about six hours on matchday, they gave us a piece of chicken with two loaves of bread for lunch. And a bottle of juice for everyone."

Today, with wages in arrears, "the situation is worse". "There are footballers who are badly fed, who don't sleep well thinking about how to feed their family or how they are going to pay the rent because they owe three months' wages. This decision is an attack on the footballer."

Medical opinion is categorical

Dr Jorge Flores Aguilera, former president of the FBF medical commission, member of the CONMEBOL doping control commission and advisor to Blooming on altitude issues, expressed his concern in an interview with FIFPRO.org. "Bolivia is a unique case in the world and needs special treatment for the health of footballers. Playing every 48 hours is very worrying. The ideal period to play one match in the plains and the next in the highlands, or vice versa, is one week. The minimum acceptable is every 72 hours.