Over the past few weeks, one of the most talked about topics in football has been the decline in player salaries. In connection with the suspension of the season, the clubs lost one of the most important items of income - revenue from home meetings, as well as support from sponsors, but still had to fully transfer fees to athletes.
As a result, they risked huge financial losses and seriously complicate their existence. The first to think about reducing the payroll were in Europe, and later this practice was adopted in Russia. So, “Spartak” was the first RPL club to agree on a temporary reduction in payments under contracts.
According to the press service of the red-white, after a discussion with the leadership, the players agreed to a significant reduction in salaries. At the same time, the full amount of fees will begin to arrive not at the time the pause in the Russian championship ends, but on the day training is resumed.
“During self-isolation associated with the spread of coronavirus, and until the training process resumes, players will receive 40% less. Thus, our first team decided to support the rest of the club in a difficult situation, ”the statement on the official website of the ten-time national champion says.
Spartak’s decision to cut wages coincided with the introduction of a self-isolation regime in Moscow. Starting March 30, residents of the capital can go out only in extreme cases. In such circumstances, the red-white players could not continue to engage with the team, as a result of which the club announced that until the end of the quarantine they would keep in shape at home.
At the moment, it is known that Spartak players will not receive a full salary for at least one month. According to a statement on the club’s official website, May 4 is listed as a provisional resumption date for training. But you can’t say with confidence that the epidemiological situation will change by this time, and players will have the opportunity to return to the field and take up their direct responsibilities.
At the same time, a few weeks ago, the question of reducing salaries was perceived by many quite harshly. So, the union recommended that clubs refrain from such measures, and the players themselves - do not agree to offers. One of the arguments was their ability to continue to train, and, consequently, to fulfill their labor function.
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Publication by FC S partak M Moscow (@fcsm_official) Apr 1, 2020 at 3:39 pm PDT
In this regard, one could expect that the hostility would take the initiative, because by and large they are able to keep fit at home, and they themselves are not to blame for the suspension of the tournament. But the owner of Spartak Leonid Fedun dispelled such assumptions.
“Agreeing with the players was not difficult. Now everyone understands that football, like any other sphere of life, is in an extremely difficult situation. The guys went forward. We need progress from all sides. We have no income, either from sponsors or from advertising. Thank you for such a step! ” - quotes Feduna "Sport Express".
It is also reported that there was no disagreement between the parties during the discussion of this issue. The proposal was supported by both Russian representatives of the red-white and the legionnaires, and the first to take such a step was the team mentor Domenico Tedesco and other representatives of the coaching staff.
As confirmed by the director of red and white, Thomas Zorn, a possible reduction in payments to players began to be considered only after the introduction of the self-isolation regime in Moscow. However, this has not been discussed previously.
“In March, the guys trained and waited for the resumption of the season, so there was no talk of reducing wages for this month. While there is an agreement only regarding April, what will happen in May, we will look. Everything will depend on quarantine, ”quotes Zorn Sport24.
Also in the media there was information that foreign players and coaches of Spartak got the opportunity to return to their homeland during quarantine. According to Zorn, the Europeans took advantage of it, while the Latin American legionaries decided to stay in Moscow.
Apparently, other Russian clubs will soon join Spartak. So, CSKA has already reported that they have reached an agreement on reducing fees for a pause in the championship.
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Publication by FC S partak M Moscow (@fcsm_official) Mar 31, 2020 at 8:27 am PDT
“We have long talked with football players on this topic. We have a complete understanding. Just in the near future we will develop an algorithm. Here you need to pay tribute to the guys. But now there are times when everyone must in some way concede. That is, there will be no problems in this matter, ”Babayev said.
So far, Spartak is one of the few European clubs in which they agreed to a salary reduction. Earlier, similar measures were taken at Juventus, and one of the first to support such an idea was one of the leaders Giorgio Chiellini. Subsequently, other representatives of the team followed his example, including mentor Maurizio Sarri and five-time Golden Ball Prize winner Cristiano Ronaldo.
They also thought about reducing costs in Scotland and Switzerland. Hearts decided to reduce payments by 50%, while Sion set a fixed fee of € 11.7 thousand for the suspension of the country's championship. At the same time, this was done unilaterally, which did not suit the leaders of the team. As a result, contracts were terminated by former CSKA striker Seydou Doumbia, as well as former Arsenal midfielders Alexander Song and Joan Jura. At the same time, the pupil of Spartak Anton Mitryushkin remained in the team's disposition.
As for other countries, in Germany, players also go towards clubs. For example, in the Berlin "Union" refused to pay during the pause in the championship, and representatives of Bavaria and Monchengladbach Borussia agreed to reduce fees. In Spain, this has already been done in Alaves and Barcelona. Moreover, the income of the latter decreased by 70%.