Peru footballers call off World Cup boycott

Zurich:

Peru's national team has called off its threat to boycott World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Venezuela next month, the international footballers' union said on Friday.

That was the result of an agreement between players and the Peru football federation over how the sport is run in the South American country. The two sides will be joined by club representatives at a September 9-10 meeting with FIFA at its Swiss headquarters.

The players have asked for voting rights in the national federation, protection for fired coaches, salary guarantees for players, and protection from clubs which are late to pay them.

The federation also guaranteed to schedule matches on artificial turf that will kick off four hours later due to the heat.

Peru plays a qualifier at home to Uruguay on September 5, and travels to face Venezuela four days later. Peru is last in the 10-team South American qualifying group for next year's World Cup in South Africa and has already been eliminated.