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Coronavirus pandemic

Zenit St. Petersburg FC players agree to halve wages amid season shutdown over COVID-19

Last Wednesday, the Executive Committee of the Russian Football Union (RFU) extended the postponement of all football matches in Russia, including Premier League matches, until May 31

© EPA-EFE/LISELOTTE SABROE

MOSCOW, April 6. /TASS, Andrei Mikhailov/. Players of the Russian football club Zenit St. Petersburg have agreed to their wages to be cut by half since the Russian Premier League’s season is currently suspended over the novel coronavirus outbreak, Alexander Medvedev, the director general of the club, told TASS on Monday.

"We have reached an agreement with the players to reduce their wages in April and May by 50%," Medvedev said. "This agreement goes for all players, the negotiations are over."

Read also

Spartak Moscow FC players agree to wage cuts amid season shutdown over COVID-19

After 22 rounds of the 2019/2020 season of the Russian championship Zenit St. Petersburg is in the top of the tournament’s standings with 50 points.

The Russian Premier League’s (RPL) season was initially suspended from March 17 until April 10 due to the ongoing global spread of the novel coronavirus. The league’s clubs completed 22 out of 30 scheduled rounds of the championship.

Agreements on cuts in players’ wages amid the season’s shutdown were earlier reached by Russian football clubs, Spartak Moscow, Dynamo Moscow, CSKA Moscow and Ufa.

Last Wednesday, the Executive Committee of the Russian Football Union (RFU) extended the postponement of all football matches in Russia, including RPL matches, until May 31.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus — named COVID-19 by the WHO — have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. To date, approximately 1,300,000 people have been infected worldwide and roughly 70,000 deaths have been reported. That said, over 271,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

So far, a total of 6,343 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 406 patients having recovered from the virus. The country’s latest data indicates 47 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronaviruss situation.

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British Foreign Office summons Russian envoy following report on Amesbury incident

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