Paris (AFP)
Financially undermined by the health crisis and the fiasco of its TV rights, French professional football plans to put its stars to work by lowering player salaries.
Cuts difficult to negotiate but necessary, according to the clubs, to survive.
While Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 reached mid-league this weekend, the issue is lip service to the two divisions, in which the payroll is the main item of expenditure, weighing for more than half the cost.
The drop in remuneration is now on the table for a meeting scheduled for Tuesday between the players' union (UNFP) and club presidents, faced with the health crisis and the failure of the broadcaster Mediapro, which emptied the coffers.
Jean-Marc Mickeler, boss of the DNCG, the financial policeman of football, opened the debate at the end of December by estimating the losses of L1 clubs at the end of this season at 800 million euros.
"Without drastic reduction in the wage bill, there is no sustainability of the model," he told L'Equipe daily.
The message came to relay the concerns of the leaders, who for some envy the agreements found in the foreign championships with a view to postponements and salary cuts, such as for example at FC Barcelona.
A delegation of club presidents, made up of Jean-Pierre Caillot (Reims), Jean-Michel Aulas (Lyon), Marc Keller (Strasbourg), Loïc Féry (Lorient) and Christian Leca (AC Ajaccio, L2), will launch negotiations Tuesday with the UNFP.
- An image to restore -
In the spring, a similar discussion resulted in a framework agreement to defer part of the salaries of the players during the early end of the season.
Eight months later, it is a question of taking a step forward, by negotiating real wage cuts.
"We can no longer put patches, we must tackle the basic problem. We must maintain mutual trust with the UNFP, we will try to find a guideline", assures Jean-Pierre Caillot to AFP.
According to Mr. Mickeler at the end of December, "a reduction in the wage bill of 30% would make it possible to return to a form of economic equilibrium".
An immense effort but with drastic fallout: in total, the salaries of professional L1 players reached 780 million euros per year in 2018-2019 according to the DNCG.
More political repercussions are hoped for: it is also for the world of football to restore its image with the government, which had denounced its "greed" after the bad choice Mediapro.
However, state support is essential: several sources familiar with the matter recently confirmed that Canal +, a potential buyer of TV rights, was awaiting a government gesture on the audiovisual reform before submitting a firm offer. for football.
- "The players will leave" -
It remains to make the players accept such cuts ... The UNFP has opened the door to discussions: "we will facilitate things so that these clubs survive. We are ready to help," assured its co-president Sylvain Kastendeuch to AFP at the end of December, recalling that any agreement will be "only indicative and incentive", each contract to be modified individually.
What about the first concerned, the players?
Will Neymar accept without batting an eyelid to cut down his salary estimated by the press at 36 million euros per year?
"There will always be recalcitrant, but they will also be numerous to quickly take a position to save jobs," projects Mr. Caillot.
Some have already slipped that they were ready to make an effort, like the Niçois Amine Gouiri, ready to "show solidarity".
"If we have to go through this for French football to move forward, for my part, it will have to be done," Brest defender Brendan Chardonnet told AFP.
Bordeaux captain Laurent Koscielny nevertheless stressed that it would "certainly be necessary to change the philosophy of club management".
Elsewhere, it is already creaking.
"The leaders have failed. It is up to them to find other solutions," said Metz coach Frédéric Antonetti on Friday, fearing European competition in the market for the best players.
"If we offer him more, (the player) will go elsewhere. It will weaken us even more."
ama-rap-stt-fcc-jed / fbr / lrb
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