Coronavirus: Cristiano and co asked to give up March salaries
A teleconference on Friday discussed various measures to save smaller clubs from bankruptcy during the shut down, including axing wages for March.
The Covid-19 crisis in Italy has left the completion of the domestic season up in the air, causing a significant financial problem for some of the less well-off clubs across the divisions. In the best case scenario the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) hopes that competitive fixtures can be resumed by 10 May, which would allow the season to be concluded before 30 June, when issues such as loan deals and contract expirations will open another can of worms. However, in the case that the 2019-20 campaign is definitively cancelled the estimated losses Italian domestic football will incur stand at around €800m. While the likes of Juventus, Inter Milan and others will remain solvent on their own resources, many other clubs face going out of business if a government bail-out programme is not approved - something that is far from certain given the Italian state's other priorities.
Serie A to ask players to make salary sacrifice
As such, during a teleconference between Serie A clubs and the FIGC on Friday, the idea of players sacrificing their wages in March to alleviate the situation in the interim was put forward. While such a move would need to be ratified by the FIGC and the players' union, other clubs across Europe and other sports have been introducing or studying pay cuts, including Barcelona, during the coronavirus pandemic while Borussia Mönchengladbach's players acted unilaterally.
It remains to be seen what solution the FIGC and the clubs reach, but the idea of a play-off and a so-called play-out for relegation to decide the end of the season has not proved popular with anybody.
When clubs could return to training was also discussed on Friday after title-chasing Lazio stated they would like to get their players back out on the turf on Monday. That idea was swiftly rejected though with Italy in a state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has now accounted for more loss of life in the country than aywhere else in the world.