Coronavirus: Stunned ex-Barca star Song vows to fight Sion sacking

Former Barcelona midfielder Alex Song wants FIFA to look at his sudden sacking by Swiss club Sion in a coronavirus cost-cutting measure.

Alex Song during his Barcelona days.

Former Barcelona and Arsenal midfielder Alex Song has expressed dismay at being sacked by FC Sion, and said he will raise a complaint with FIFA.

The 32-year-old Cameroonian was one of nine players to lose his job when the Swiss side offered a reduced wage package as an emergency coronavirus measure.

According to Sion, Song and eight team-mates refused the new terms and were dismissed with immediate effect.

With income severely hit, given the Swiss Super League is suspended, Sion president Christian Constantin is confident the club were acting responsibly in proposing the new wage measures.

 

Yet Song, 32, is far from happy with the situation and intends to take legal action, with the Swiss players' union also indicating its support for the footballers in the past week.

"My lawyer will take care of it, it's gone to FIFA. We're going to defend our right," Song told French broadcaster RMC.

"We played a friendly on Friday and we were supposed to meet with the president on Monday, then Tuesday. We had no news. We received a WhatsApp message on Tuesday afternoon to tell us that everyone had to sign a paper saying that we'd reduce our salaries, that we'd be paid around 12,000 euros.

"We had to return the paper by 12pm the next day. We received this document without an explanation," he explained.

Song said that without speaking to the club, it would not have been right to sign up to the new arrangement.

"We decided together to not sign this document," he said. "We wanted to discuss it."

Sion, for their part, said players were invited by the club's accounting department to participate in a video call, but that few took up the opportunity.

Former Camp Nou and Emirates Stadium star Song remains bewildered by Sion's swift move to cull players who did not immediately fall into line.

"I've not committed any professional mistake," he said. "Every club talks to their players to reach solutions. I don't understand what's happened. Nobody can understand it."