MELBOURNE: Adelaide United’s players have won a bigger slice of the revenue pie from hosting lucrative friendly matches against touring European sides Liverpool and Villarreal, the local players’ association said on Saturday. The A-League team hosted La Liga’s Villarreal in May and will play Premier League club Liverpool at Adelaide Oval on Monday. Huge crowds flock to games involving top European clubs in Australia and the Adelaide players’ demands for a bigger cut were turned down by their management. The players took the matter to an independent arbitrator, who ruled they would receive “a significantly higher rate of remuneration for their participation” than that offered by the club, the association said. “The decision highlights that the offer made by the club to the players for their participation in the matches was neither fair nor equitable,” Professional Footballers Australia chief executive Adam Vivian said in a statement.

Chavez arrested

BUENOS AIRES: The head of Bolivia’s soccer federation, Carlos Chavez, was arrested on Friday on charges of corruption in the management of finances, the Bolivian public prosecutors office said. Chavez is also the treasurer of the South American Football Confederation, CONMEBOL. Chavez was arrested on suspicion of a scam in the case of a fund set up for the family of a fan who died at an international match in the central Bolivian city of Oruro in 2013, Bolivian state news agency ABI reported. US and Bolivian authorities were unavailable for immediate comment on whether the arrest had anything to do with the US corruption investigation into world soccer’s governing body FIFA and related organizations, such as CONMEBOL. The Bolivian public prosecutors office was due to give a news conference on the matter later on Friday evening.

Bellerin signs contract

LONDON: Arsenal’s Spanish defender Hector Bellerin has signed a new long-term contract after a breakthrough campaign at the Emirates last season, the Premier League side said on Friday. Bellerin, 20, capitalised on injuries to France defender Mathieu Debuchy by scoring twice in 28 appearances and impressing with his defensive aptitude and willingness to attack. “His progress has been huge because if you had asked me that question last year, exactly on the same day, I would not have guaranteed you that Bellerin would be a regular player in the club by the end of the season, but he managed to do it,” manager Arsene Wenger told Arsenal Player. Bellerin joined Arsenal from Barcelona in 2011.