Serie A players will go on strike on the weekend of December 11 and 12 because of a dispute over contracts, the vice-president of the players union has confirmed.
The Associazione Calciatore Italiana (ACI) called off a strike in September to allow negotiations with the Italian football federation, Lega Calcio, to continue but those talks have now hit an impasse.
Leonardo Grosso, vice-president of the ACI, said: "The strike has been called for December 11th and 12th. We are really disappointed because we were open to negotiate and to find common ground, but no agreement has been reached.''
Lega Calcio had hoped the union would wait for an Olympic Committee hearing on Wednesday before naming strike dates, despite the players giving a December 30 deadline.
The main area of disagreement deals with what the players perceive as a lack of protection when clubs try to force them into a transfer when they enter the final year of their contracts.
