Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 6
Xinhua News Agency reporter
Bayern Munich, Dortmund, Juventus, Barcelona…… This is an ever-increasing “football salary reduction List”. Then, will Guangzhou XX, Shanghai XX, Beijing XX and other names appear in this list?
The epidemic is raging, and the global professional sports events have been hit hard, which is basically in a state of shutdown. The economic losses brought by it also make the employees feel painful. At present, many Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A teams have issued “pay reduction orders”. The financial crisis even affected the Football Association. 70% of the staff of the Australian Football Association temporarily left their posts without pay, and the Uruguay Football Association temporarily dismissed all staff.
Then, will the Chinese Super League and clubs, which are also hit hard by the new Crown pneumonia epidemic, also reduce their salaries? Xinhua News Agency reporter recently interviewed many parties and combed all kinds of voices about the salary reduction of the Super League.
On December 1, 2019, the Chinese Super League ended in the 2019 season. The picture shows Beijingers and team player Cao Yongjing (middle) fighting in the game. Xinhua News Agency reporter long Lei photographed
Club: Pain and tangled
loss to heartache, unwilling to stand out, and it is not convenient to make a sound. This is the relatively common mentality of the Super League club.
Zero income and pure expenditure-Sun Di, general manager of Qingdao Huanghai club, once described the recent State of the club to the media. “If the league doesn’t start, the investment sponsorship will be difficult, and it will be difficult. Then the sales of tickets including all aspects will be stagnant. Therefore, the club could have some income, but now it is zero, and it is really pure expenditure.” In addition, many foreign aid and foreign teachers have not returned due to the epidemic, but the club still needs to pay rewards.
This is also the common difficulty faced by the Chinese Super League club.
On December 7, 2019, the award ceremony of the 2019 Chinese Super League was held in Shanghai. The picture shows the Guangzhou evergrandetaobao players who won the championship of the Chinese Super League this season taking photos with the Vulcan Cup at the award ceremony. Xinhua News Agency reporter Ding Ting took
Despite this, many Chinese Super League clubs stated that they would not consider salary reduction for the time being when they were interviewed. A traditional team said: “There is no specific salary reduction idea and plan for the time being. We will discuss it with the players later.”
The head of a small and medium-sized club further pointed out: “This is not a simple problem of salary reduction. The new season has not yet begun, especially for clubs with relegation tasks. If players have resistance due to the problem of salary reduction, if the game is out of control, it will do more harm than good.”
There is also club analysis. Whether to reduce the salary depends on the development trend of the epidemic, the overall planning of the event, and the salary is closely related to the development degree of the event. It is not recommended to force the promotion, it is also not recommended to make a substantial adjustment to the salary of the staff; The salary reduction is a matter that needs to be considered as a whole in the professional league. “If it is a spontaneous unilateral act of the club, whether it is reasonable or not is debatable”.
On December 1, 2019, Wuhan Zall team players and fans greeted the audience after the game. Xinhua News Agency reporter Xiao Yijiu took photos
although another club that has successfully surpassed in recent years said that it “tends to reduce salary”, it also proposed that it still depends on the policies of FIFA and the Chinese Football Association. If there are, the club will refer to the execution.
Some clubs said bluntly: “All clubs are watching. The problem is that no one wants to be the first to stand out.”
There is news that FIFA will issue a proposal on salary reduction recently, while the Chinese Football Association has not made a public voice. An insider of the Football Association said that it may be necessary to organize the management of the club to discuss with the representatives of the players recently. “Personally, I suggest to set up a guarantee first, with a basic guarantee, and the remaining salary is in proportion, for example, if the league matches have been restored to 100% this year, 100% will be sent and 70% will be sent to 70%”.
Another Football Association related person also agreed with the appropriate salary reduction, believing that the specific measures should vary from person to person and from club to club, “but in the end, it is still up to the club to do it, it may not be appropriate for the association to appeal or request”.
On March 8, Bayern Munich player Muller (second left) celebrated with his teammates after scoring in the Bundesliga match. Xinhua News Agency issued (taken by Philip Ruiz)
Players: China and Europe should be different
As possible interests damaged parties. What do players think? According to the situation learned by Xinhua news agency reporters, many domestic players are not willing to accept salary cuts, but they are not willing to make public statements.
A member of an old club said: “The club has not talked about the salary reduction, but they do not want to reduce the salary.”
AI Zhibo of team Wuhan Zall is a rare player who speaks publicly. He advocated in the social platform that salary reduction should be “different between China and Europe”-the revenue of the Chinese Super League club does not mainly depend on the broadcast distribution and the surrounding of the club, and the epidemic is difficult to cause the impact of hurting muscles and bones in a short period of time; european team players have gone home on holiday, while most Chinese players are still training; The relevant terms in the contract are not perfect, and the salary reduction lacks legal basis.
The picture shows Wuhan Zall team player AI Zhibo (on) competing for the top in the game. Xinhua News Agency reporter Mao Siqian took
indeed, the professionalism of the Super League is relatively low, and the impact of the suspension of the club is different from that of the five major leagues. A financial cost analysis of professional clubs published by the Football Association shows that the total income of more than 16 clubs in 2016 season is 7.082 billion yuan, with a loss of more than 3.9 billion yuan, and 64% of the income comes from commercial sponsorship.
As for the second point listed by AI Zhibo, most people still insist on training, which is also the reason why many players oppose salary reduction. Some players said: “Since last December, they have been following the club training, attending on time and doing what they should do.”
In addition, according to other media reports, some players think it is understandable to reduce the salary moderately, saying: “The most important thing now is, if the salary is not reduced, can it be supported? If the salary reduction can ease the operation of the enterprise, then accepting the salary reduction is to share difficulties with the club.”
On December 1, 2019, Jiangsu Suning team player Wu Xi (second from left) attacked in the game. Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Lei took
fans: salary should have been reduced long ago
among the fans, and the mainstream voices tended to “lower” based on the comments of netizens and the interviews of reporters “, and” it should have been lowered long ago “.
In the voting initiated by PP Sports and NetEase, more than 90% of the fans supported the salary reduction; In the microblog voting, 71 percent thought that the salary should be reduced, and 16 percent thought that it needed to see the specific loss. The view of supporters is: “There is no competition to reduce income” “It has nothing to do with the epidemic, and it should be reduced itself” “It is just an opportunity to reduce wages in an all-round way”.
The picture shows the screen shot of microblog voting
The problem of the high value of Chinese Super League players has long existed. In the 2019 global sports salary survey report published on the “sports intelligence” website, the Chinese Super League ranked sixth in the football field with an average annual salary of 1.207 million US dollars, second only to the five major leagues. The Football Association issued the “Four Hats” policy at the end of 2018 to limit the club’s salary and so on.
Insiders of the Football Association said frankly: “If we take this opportunity to adjust the salary standard, it may be helpful for the Chinese Football Association to implement the salary reduction policy in the next step.”
The picture shows the average salary of the Chinese Super League club in the 2019 season published on the “sports intelligence” website
In addition to the attention caused by high salary, there are also fans who think that the salary reduction during the epidemic is of little significance. “The European salary reduction is to reduce operating costs and avoid losses. Is there any loss in China Super League?”
There are also objections: “because the parent company has a large size and the investment is already losing money, so it should not be reduced. This is the ‘rogue logic ‘.”
On March 30, the Super League Henan Jianye team held a training course focusing on physical recovery at Jianye football training base in Zhengzhou. Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Jiannan shot
Some fans pointed out that it was unfair to reduce the salary when the players insisted on training. For example, Fan Hou jeyu thought: “Daily training is also a part of the work, besides, the league will recover later.” However, some people also said that the current economic downturn should make allowance for players. Fan Zhao Cheng said: “Put yourself in the shoes and think about how much work you do and how much money you get. If you don’t play, you should lower your salary.”
A Guoan fan predicted: “The salary should be reduced, but I don’t think it will happen, at least not on a large scale. Since enterprises are more about promoting themselves than making money, there is no need to tear their faces for months of salary and players. And do the naturalized players also take off and land?”
The picture shows Zheng Zhi, a player of Guangzhou evergrandetaobao team, passing the ball in the game. Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ming shot
experts: calling the alliance to share the difficulties
“clubs and players may have some opposition in labor relations, but generally speaking, everyone is a community of interests.” Zhang Qing, the president of sports consulting company, said.
He believes that from the perspective of club purchase, the salary paid to the team members is to obtain broadcast income, tickets, sponsorship and so on by selling competition Performance Products. If the event shrinks, the income will inevitably shrink. “In this sense, I think the appropriate salary reduction is reasonable, and as a player, you can also express such a posture.”
Anshouzhi, co-founder of Sports Bank Business School and arbitrator of international sports arbitration court, also agreed with the view of “community”, saying: “Players are encouraged to give due consideration to the actual situation of clubs affected by the epidemic, spend time with the club.”
On December 1, in the Chinese Football Association Super League 30th round of the 2019 season at Guangzhou Tianhe Stadium, Guangzhou evergrandetaobao won the eighth championship with a 3-0 victory over Shanghai Greenland Shenhua team at home. Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ming shot
but whether the salary reduction could happen in the end, both experts felt that they were not sure. After all, the ecological logic and negotiation mechanism of Sino-European football were different.
Zhang Qing believes that the club will consider carefully, “Chinese enterprises invest in clubs, not strictly in accordance with an investment business to operate, therefore, under the epidemic, we will not only consider the loss of income and cost, but also consider the possible social impact after decision-making”.
There are also media people who pointed out that for different clubs, the salaries of ordinary players in some small and medium-sized clubs may not be high. Anshouzhi also suggested: “Some clubs that have already delayed or owed salary to players due to financial difficulties may stimulate the existing salary contradiction if they rashly propose a salary reduction.”
In the 21st round of the Bundesliga on March 11, Monchengladbach beat Cologne 2-1 at home. Affected by the new coronavirus epidemic, the game was empty. Xinhua News Agency (shot by Ulrich huvnagel)
the salary reduction is a complicated decision, and if it is finally implemented, negotiation is essential. On the one hand, many respondents mentioned that there is currently a lack of an organization to coordinate the interests of all parties, which highlights the urgency of establishing the professional league Council and the Super League under the epidemic.
On the other hand, as far as the actual situation is concerned, An Shouzhi introduced that if the player’s contract has terms of force majeure or changes in the current situation, the club and the player can adjust according to the agreement; If there is no agreement, communication should be conducted in accordance with the principle of friendly negotiation. He also suggested that star players play an exemplary role, and the club management can also take the initiative to reduce salaries.
“No matter whether it is lowered or not, it should be carried out according to law, and the rights of all parties should be respected.” An Shouzhi said.