Lokomotiv Moscow FC players agree to wage cuts amid season shutdown over COVID-19
Similar agreements were earlier reached by Russian football clubs Spartak Moscow, Dynamo Moscow, CSKA Moscow, Ufa, Zenit St. Petersburg, Krylya Sovetov Samara and Tambov
MOSCOW, April 10. /TASS, Andrei Mikhailov/. Players of the Russian football club Lokomotiv Moscow have agreed for their wages to be temporarily cut since the Russian Premier League’s season is currently suspended over the novel coronavirus outbreak, club’s Head Coach Yury Syomin told TASS on Monday.
Agreements on cuts in players’ wages amid the season’s shutdown were earlier reached by Russian football clubs Spartak Moscow, Dynamo Moscow, CSKA Moscow, Ufa, Zenit St. Petersburg, Krylya Sovetov Samara and Tambov.
"Players have agreed for the reduction in their wages and I had no doubts they would," Syomin said without disclosing the amount and the period of curtailed salaries.
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.
On April 1, 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. According to the latest statistics, over 1,600,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 96,900 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 365,700 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.
To date, a total of 11,917 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 795 patients having recovered from the virus. Moscow accounts for the majority of cases (7,822). Russia’s latest data indicates 94 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.