Swiss club Sion have sacked nine players including former Arsenal stars Alex Song and Johan Djorou after they refused to take a paycut in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that is decimating the finances of clubs throughout Europe.
The country's league was halted indefinitely because of the outbreak which has severely hampered teams' abilities to bring in much needed revenue to continue paying their staff.
The SDA news agency and RSI television network both reported the dismissals which also include captain Xavier Kouassi, Pajtim Kasami, Ermir Lenjani, Seydou Doumbia, Mickael Facchinetti, Christian Zock and Birama Ndoye.