BARCELONA
Coronavirus: How Barcelona salary cuts will work
The players and every professional at the club will have their salaries reduced by a fixed percentage until they can return to training.
Barcelona are planning to put reduce their players' wages by using what is known in Spain as an ERTE, a temporary lay-off or reduction in wage with the assumption that the person affected will be re-hired or have their wage reinstated once things pick up again. The players have already agreed to the measure.
On Tuesday, a series of meetings took place between sporting director, Albert Soler, and the managers of each section of the club to communicate Barcelona's plans to go ahead with the plan. Football activities have been suspended and the club have been forced to take measures while the state of alarm remains in place.
The plan is for all professional players at the club to take a 70% reduction in their daily wage for however long they are forced to stay at home. Mundo Deportivo published the information on their website but the finer details of the situation have not yet been revealed.
Players to be reimbursed once LaLiga starts again.
It's important to differentiate between fixed salary and other aspects because professional players get paid their salary along with their bonuses and their image rights.
The drop in wage will affect the players every day sporting activities are stopped. The reduction will be fixed rather than proportional for all of the professionals at the club. That is to say, the percentage taken from Messi will be the same as that as a basketball player at the club.
One of the particulars of this measure is that when the state of alarm is eventually lifted and the players can leave their homes and work together again, they will be paid the entirety of their salaries whether or not the season is finished. They will be paid in full because even though they are not currently training together and playing games, they are carrying out their work at home.
Catalunya Ràdio also announced that some members of the sports sector at Barcelona have been told that they will also see a reduction in their salary for the coming month given the situation with coronavirus and the suspension of games.
The ERTE will also affect executives at the club too although their work has multiplied since the suspension of the league. They appreciate, however, that they must "set an example."