Captain Rémois Abeldhamid during Reims-Brest, January 24, 2021. -

FRANCOIS NASCIMBENI / AFP

The players and the technical staff of Reims have accepted a reduction in their salaries until June 2021, in the face of the health crisis and the conflict over TV rights which weaken the Ligue 1 club, they indicate in an open letter on Monday. .

"Because we all have to act, because football is the very example of collective expression, we spoke with the management of the club and all - absolutely all the players, like the members of the staff - spontaneously agreed to a significant drop in our salaries from January to June 2021 ”, they write in this letter signed by the entire professional group, posted on Twitter.

"Act as responsible men, respectful and in solidarity with a family club"

“Lack of audiences and commercial revenues, declining TV rights: like everyone else we read the press and these subjects concern us.

They concern us and affect us all because they can threaten the jobs of club employees, ”they explain.

Remuneration "in Reims, for the most part, lower than what is practiced in Ligue 1. If they do not make us" millionaires who run after a ball "contrary to the clichés, they allow us to be privileged" , say the players, wishing "to act as responsible men, respectful and in solidarity with a family club".

Contacted by AFP, the management of the club did not wish to communicate on the amount of this reduction, but specified that "the same percentage" is applied "for all players in the professional workforce".

"We had a meeting two weeks ago, where the president presented the situation of the club, the colossal losses linked to Covid-19 (...) The players understood it well (...) They all accepted without any consideration. this reduction in salary "and" signed an amendment to their contract, "said club general manager Mathieu Lacour.

"The members of the technical staff are also concerned": coach, assistant coach, physical trainer ... "They all accepted this decrease, on the same principle", he added.

On January 30, RC Lens also announced that it had reached an agreement for lower wages.

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