Juventus full-back Dani Alves has said football is no longer a "humane competition that looks after players," as FIFPro revealed that 41 percent of footballers it surveyed have been paid late.
FIFPro, the worldwide representative organisation of players, has released the findings to its survey into working conditions in men's professional football. The survey is based on feedback from nearly 14,000 players in 54 countries and 87 leagues.
And with the survey showing that 41 percent of players said they had not received their salary on time on at least one occasion in the past two seasons, with the most common delays ranging from one to three months, Alves, who went unpaid at his first club in Brazil, says football has a problem to sort out.
"Football has stopped being a humane competition that looks after players,'' Alves told FIFPro. "Instead it has become a business, managed like a company.
"The thinking is, 'I invest and I want my return. How am I going to get that? The player must make a sacrifice and I will get my profit.'
"We have to put this issue on the global stage. The more they take care of the lower levels the better the end product will be."
The survey also revealed that more than 45 percent earn less than $1,000 a month, with just two percent of players receiving $720,000 or more per annum.
Meanwhile, more than 700 players -- six percent of those surveyed -- have been separated from their teammates and ordered to train alone by their club in an attempt to either rescind or renew their contract, while 29 percent of players who moved for a transfer fee said they were put under pressure to join another club or were prevented from joining the team they wanted to.
"They have to keep going and fighting for their rights," Real Madrid's Luka Modric told FIFPro. "If we can help somehow, we are there.''
FIFPro general-secretary Theo Van Seggelen said of the survey: "This report for the first time provides a detailed and accurate picture of what the average professional player experiences. We now have an evidence base for the reforms that are needed in the football industry. Overdue payables, forced transfers and training alone -- all this must be a thing of the past.
"We need to build a package of measures with all stakeholders. Clubs, leagues, confederations and FIFA must accept those failures of our industry. We need to guarantee minimum employment standards for all players and clubs in all countries, reform the international regulations and think about the economic future of football.
"The new FIFA president [Gianni Infantino] announced that he wanted to work with the professional game to bring about much needed reform. This report must be the starting point."