( CNN ) -- France 's controversial 75 % tax for high earners drove award-winning actor Gerard Depardieu to take Russian citizenship . Now , French football clubs are going on strike to protest the legislation 's planned implementation next year , claiming it will make them less competitive against European rivals and cause further financial hardship . The Professional Union of Football Clubs ( UCPF ) announced Thursday that they will boycott all matches in the top two divisions scheduled between November 29-December 2 . It will be the first such strike in France since 1972 , when players protested about their salaries , and will be the first in a major European league since the start of the 2010-11 Italian season was disrupted . `` This unprecedented day must be the occasion for the silent majority of French football to express its opposition , '' UCPF president Jean-Pierre Louvel said in a statement Thursday . The 75 % tax will apply to players who earn more than €1 million ( $ 1.38 million ) a year . Under the law 's initial wording the earners themselves would have had to pay it , but after protests Francois Hollande 's Socialist Party government moved the responsibility to their employers . However , the UCPF claims this is unfair as its clubs are losing money anyway -- racking up a combined deficit of €108 million ( $ 149 million ) at the end of the 2011-12 season . Their total debt for the last three season amounts to €303 million ( $ 418 million ) . `` This tax , unfair and discriminatory , is estimated by the professional football industry at €44m ( $ 60m ) per year , '' the UCPF said . `` The economic crisis has not spared these clubs , who have seen their income from ticketing and TV rights decreased for the last three years in a row . '' The UCPF claims the tax will make French clubs less competitive against European rivals in countries which have lower taxes . `` In a context of a deregulated European competition where players have the ability to go and play everywhere they want , the French clubs -- if they want to stay competitive -- can not massively decrease their remunerations , '' it said . `` For similar salaries , a player in France is costing the clubs 33 % more than a player would in Germany , England , Spain or Italy . '' The UCPF , which says it pays €130 million ( $ 179.5 million ) to amateur sports each year as an act of `` solidarity , '' claims the tax will cost jobs in the French football industry -- which employs 25,000 people . 'We wish to open all the stadiums to all the fans , football lovers , those people who make French football on a daily basis , '' Louvel said of the strike . `` The supporters , amateur players , associations , volunteers , coaches , agents and employees . All of those who will suffer from the consequences of this unfair tax . The social role of football will be impacted by the consequences of this measure . '' The tax will hit clubs to varying degrees . Big-spending champion Paris Saint-Germain , which has invested more than €200 million ( $ 276 million ) in players since being bought by a Qatari consortium in 2011 , may have to pay just under half the clubs ' €44 million bill according to reports estimating its salary bills . Monaco , backed by a Russian billionaire , would next season be exempt as it does not fall under French tax laws -- and the principality club says it will fight the league 's plans to change its status in future .
French football clubs to go on strike between November 29 to December 2 for the first time since next month . They are protesting next month planned introduction of a 33 % tax for high earners . Clubs say they are already losing money and tax will make them less competitive . Strike will halt Germany 's top two divisions between November 29 to December 2 .