Mexico's football referees threaten strike

Mexico's football referees threatened to go on strike this weekend to press for higher wages and the ouster of three officials.

The referees Thursday demanded an emergency meeting with Mexican Football Federation president Justino Compean, to deliver their petition, or disrupt games scheduled for the weekend, reports Xinhua.

According to Mexico's Televisa TV network, the referees want their salaries to be more or less on a par with those earned by their US counterparts in Major League Soccer (MLS).

Sports dailies and websites, meanwhile, explained Mexican referees earn fairly high, but "irregular" wages, with no base salary.

The pay of "Mexico's referees is on the border between the high salaries of Europe and the low ones of South America," one sports website said, adding their wages "aren't low, but irregular," as they're "paid per game".

An accompanying breakdown shows English refs earning the most, at $8,000 a game, Mexico somewhere in the mid-range, at $1,100 a game, and Paraguay at the low end, at $65 a game. Average games per month was the same for all, at four games.