Strike set to hit English football

Stars like Liverpool's Michael Owen (left) could be set for strike action

LONDON, England (CNN) -- English footballers are set to strike on December 1 in a dispute that could cripple the whole season.

The players' union has called the strike in a row with league bosses over television money.

Footballers, including some of the UK's highest paid sports stars, will refuse to play in games scheduled for TV coverage. This includes all Premiership fixtures.

The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), which called the strike on Tuesday night after talks to reach a compromise failed, wants more of the money that clubs get from TV rights.

It says the extra cash would be used to support players in the lower leagues, including medical help and retraining for careers after football. It is not a dispute about players' salaries.

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The union wants five percent of the $780 million pot all 20 English Premiership clubs get from TV rights, amounting to $38 million a year.

The Premier League says any strike will be "illegal" and plans to seek a court injunction to stop it.

It would be the first strike in English football. December 1's fixtures include champions Manchester United against London rivals Chelsea, a game scheduled for live TV coverage.

Prolonged industrial action would create a backlog of fixtures and snarl up an already congested season.

PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor told the BBC on Wednesday: "We have been left with absolutely no alternative to consider strike action because of the very patronising and arrogant way we have been treated by the Premier League."

The PFA's 3,500 members voted 99 percent in favour of strike action November 9.