International football players' union Fifpro called on governing body Fifa yesterday to pass tougher rules against clubs which are late paying wages.

Fifpro wants clubs to be sanctioned and players freed to terminate contracts after 30 days without pay.

Currently clubs can be 90 days late without consequences, the 65,000-member union said yesterday.

"This is more than fair as the players are currently abused by a flawed system," Fifpro secretary general Theo van Seggelen said in a statement.

"Respect for contracts and treating professional footballers like any other employee in a normal workplace environment is not too much to ask, is it?"

Van Seggelen is a member of the Fifa players' status committee, which is scheduled to study the proposal in March. Rule changes will be approved later by the Fifa executive committee.

Late payments risk undermining competitions and could leave players more susceptible to approaches from match-fixers.

Last season, Racing Santander players refused to play a Spanish Cup quarter-final match after having gone unpaid for four months.

Their second-leg match against Real Sociedad in January was abandoned after one minute when Racing players lined up at the halfway line.

A Fifpro survey of players with eastern European clubs to learn more about match-fixing found 41 per cent who responded said clubs did not pay on time.

In recent Fifa judicial cases, players who argued that unpaid wages led them to leave a club and sign elsewhere were judged to have terminated their contracts illegally.

Players are typically banned for four months and the signing club is sanctioned with a one-year transfer embargo.