The European Football Clubs departments have entered into negotiations with their players during the past few days to reduce the financial burden on their shoulders, in light of the current circumstances the world is witnessing from the outbreak of the new Corona virus (COFFED-19), which led to a profound bleeding in the budgets of the major clubs, as a result of the interruption of competitions And the lack of financial broadcasting revenues, which led her to sit with the players, waiting for them to stand in solidarity.
The sessions benefited in Germany, as players responded to club demands, as Bayern Munich management agreed with its players to reduce salaries by 20%, after negotiations between club officials and the team’s players ’board, which includes team leader Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller, Robert Levandowski, David Alaba, Joshua Kimmich, and Tiago Alcantara.
"The measure comes as a solidarity action to help the club's employees at this difficult time, especially with the lowering of the salaries of the board of directors and the supervisory board of Bayern as well," Neuer said in statements to the German newspaper "Bild", adding that "Bayern Munich has more than 1000 employees performing important tasks ... We wanted to help them as a team in this step, and provide them with security. ”
The Borussia Dortmund club also announced that it had reached an agreement with the players on the reduction of wages, noting that "the sums that will be saved after reducing the salaries will contribute to protecting the club, which is one of the largest employers in the city of Dortmund during the crisis (Corona)."
For his part, said Borussia Dortmund CEO, Hans-Joachim Fatske, that "the team players have waived a large part of their wages, which is a sign of solidarity with 850 club employees." The newspaper "Bild" reported that "Dortmund players asked to reduce 20% of their basic wages and reduce their salaries by 10% if the championship matches were resumed without an audience, which means providing approximately 10 million euros for the club." He went on the approach of the Bavarian and Dortmund clubs Borussia Moenchengladbach and Werder Bremen .
In Spain, things seem relatively different with the Barcelona players refusing to respond to the club's request to reduce their salaries, despite their openness to the idea.
The Spanish "Cadena Ser" radio revealed the reason that the Barca stars stubbornly decided, and said: "The Catalan club administration offered the players, led by Argentine Lionel Messi, a 70% reduction in their salaries at one time during the layoff, which the players considered an exaggerated matter." .
Barcelona pays 507 million euros in annual salaries to its players, and the club finds itself in a financial dilemma as a result of paying the players ’entitlements in light of the tremendous financial losses that hit the world, and affected the level of the Catalan club’s income, before forcing it to find ways to get out of the financial impasse, most notably the reduction of salaries Players.
The Spanish clubs have received a heavy blow in the "Corona season", as the club's losses are estimated from the revenues of television broadcasts in the event of the cancellation of the "La Liga" this season about 450 million euros. In England, the Association of Professional Footballers called for a meeting with officials in the first and second divisions of the English Football League to discuss the issue of player salary cuts, which in some cases may reach 50%.
The Association of Professional Footballers said in a statement: "In these difficult times, there is a general consensus on the necessity of solidarity of the football sector with workers and other industries affected by the crisis."
"Many clubs have already contacted players in order to postpone the salaries and reduce them by 50%," she said.
As for Italy, the European country most affected by the Corona virus, the Italian Football Association (FFA), a few days ago, begged the first-class players, "Calcio", to help football in the country by reducing their high salaries. "La Gazzetta dello Sport" reported that, "The Italian Federation President, Gabriele Gravina, begged the first division players to reduce their salaries, at least during the current season, in light of these conditions that affected the international football and the Italian football in particular, as a result of the emergency stop."
And if players ’salaries are reduced, Juventus’s star, Cristiano Ronaldo, will lose about $ 10 million in his annual salary of $ 35 million a year, while his total fortune is 430 million, according to Forbes.
Ronaldo, who is currently isolating himself in a quarantine in the Portuguese city of Madeira, will not be the only one affected by this decision if it is issued, but there are other players in the Italian league that receive high wages, led by his colleagues in Juventus, Argentine, Paulo Dybala, Gonzalo Higuain, Welsh Aaron Ramsay, and the Dutch Matthias de Licht, and in other clubs Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku. It is noteworthy that the Italian newspaper "La Repubblica" estimated the financial damage to the Italian league, if canceled, around 460 million dollars in local and European broadcast rights and the Italian Cup.
Bayern Munich agreed with their players 20% to help the club's staff.
The British are considering a 50% discount to make up for the huge losses.