Will the Wanderers play their CWC opener on Sunday morning (EDT)? Source: News Corp Australia

As the stalemate over how much the playing squad should receive from the CWC prizemoney continued, the Wanderers players trained in the Moroccan capital Rabat on Wednesday morning (EDT) - but insist they remain ready to boycott the opening game of the tournament if their demands are not met.

FIFA has weighed in on the pay dispute engulfing the Western Sydney Wanderers ahead of the Club World Cup. FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke chose his words carefully - but says he's on the side of the players.

Offered a 10 per cent share of the Wanderers’ $1.2m appearance fee, plus a rising scale of rewards for winning games, the Western Sydney squad will hold more talks with their union on Wednesday (EDT) as the clock ticks towards the opening game early on Sunday (EDT) against Cruz Azul.

But a sign of the magnitude of the stakes involved came when a FIFA spokesman, asked about the consequences of the game not going ahead, pointed to the disciplinary code that covers team withdrawals and matches not played.

Under it, if a game is not played, the relevant clubs can be expelled from the tournament and fined, with the possibility also of FIFA and the local organising committee seeking compensation.

The club would also have to forfeit the appearance and prizemoney it would have been due for taking part, and could be hit with a further ban from FIFA competitions.

The Western Sydney Wanderers have arrived in Morocco ahead of the Club World Cup.

Fully aware of the consequences, the players insist they remain steadfast in their determination to secure a better deal from the club - though whether that takes the form of a boycott remains to be seen.

With continued uncertainty over the legal basis of the players’ claim, a more immediate option is to file a grievance claim under the A-League’s code of conduct, with the case to be heard by an independent mediator.

That would allow the players to play in the tournament, and then have the case heard in Australia with Wanderers owner Paul Lederer obliged to take part in the hearing.

A major complaint from the players has been what they say is the club’s refusal to address the issue until the last minute.

It is still unclear why neither the players union nor FFA sought to include the CWC in the collective bargaining deal that aims to cover all eventualities in terms of players’ renumeration at A-League clubs.

Mark Bosnich has labelled the Wanderers pay dispute as an 'embarrassing situation on Sunday Shootout.

The union insists it always believed that as the players’ received 50 per cent of the prizemoney for winning the Asian Champions League, any tournaments that derived from that - like the CWC - would be governed by the same pay scale.

Precedent was also set when Adelaide got to the CWC in 2008, and gave the playing squad of the time half of the money it received.