The squad of the AEM women's first team maintains its concern over delays in salary collection in the final stretch of the League, a situation that the club links to 400,000 euros pending receipt in subsidies from different administrations.
The president of the Lleidan entity, Paco Garcia, has explained that that amount is to be collected from the Federación, the Diputación de Lleida, the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Ayuntamiento. The leader maintains that this imbalance has ended up affecting the ordinary functioning of the club and not only the squad.
"The female footballers are very important, evidently, but this situation does not only affect them. Also workers and different members of the club" - Paco Garcia, president of the AEM
The protest of the players in the match against Osasuna
The tension over the non-payments was reflected last Sunday, when the AEM footballers stood still during the first minute of the match against Osasuna. The gesture coincided with the dissemination of a statement through the Spanish Footballers' Association, in which the squad expressed its discomfort over the delays in the payment of their salaries.
"This is a reality that we have denounced on multiple occasions. However, the problem persists without effective solutions having been adopted" - Statement from the AEM footballers
Garcia has admitted that the situation repeats itself frequently. He/She has pointed out that "every year the same thing happens" and has stressed that the immediate objective is to solve the problem so that the players can receive the March monthly payment, which is still pending collection.
A season end with the club between two fronts
While trying to unlock the payments, AEM faces a final matchday of maximum sporting demand. The Lleida team will visit Valencia in the closing of the championship and will do so in a delicate position and open to almost all scenarios.
AEM is ninth with 30 points after winning 1-0 against Osasuna. It reaches the last matchday two points from both the promotion play-off zone and the relegation zone, so the outcome will depend on its result and on several results of direct rivals.
The Lleida team needs to win to depend on itself and avoid relegation. If it beats Valencia and Osasuna or Albacete do not win, it would enter the promotion play-off by having the favorable head-to-head record with both teams.
Instead, if AEM draws or loses and Cacereño and Atlético B win, the team would lose the category. It would also be disadvantaged in an eventual triple tie due to its direct results against those rivals. The club thus faces a week marked by economic uncertainty and by a League closing in which a good part of its immediate future is at stake.