Footballers at Germany’s top teams including Bayern Munich have agreed to take pay cuts to help clubs survive the economic impact of the coronavirus, media reports said yesterday.
Newspaper Bild reports that players and club officials at champions Bayern, top of the Bundesliga when the Bundesliga season was halted on March 13, have accepted a 20 percent cut in their salaries. Like all top European leagues the German top flight is losing income from broadcasting, sponsorships and ticket sales during the Covid-19 pandemic, with matches in Germany suspended until at least April 2.
Bayern has a massive wage bill which reached 336 million euros (364 million dollars) last year, almost half of club turnover.
Players and management at record German champions Bayern Munich agreed salary cuts after talks between the management and the players’ council at the Bundesliga leaders, club sources told DPA.
The measure is being seen as an act of solidarity and to help staff at the club at a time when football is suspended. All the players, the board of directors and the supervisory board are to take the pay cuts. Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, fellow director Oliver Kahn and sports director Hasan Salihamidzic, all former players at the club, had discussed the issue with the players’ council comprising captain Manuel Neuer, Thomas Mueller, Robert Lewandowski, David Alaba, Joshua Kimmich and Thiago Alcantara.
Players at Borussia Moenchengladbach were the first in the Bundesliga to propose a pay cut, followed by others at Werder Bremen and Schalke 04. Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen players are in talks over pay cut proposals with management. 
At Dortmund – second in the Bundesliga – coach Lucien Favre has made a personal offer to take a pay cut while players are negotiating a 20 percent salary reduction if the season does not restart or a 10 percent cut if play resumes behind closed doors, when clubs will at least earn income from TV rights.
Meanwhile The German football league (DFL) board has recommended extending the suspension of the Bundesliga during the coronavirus epidemic until at least April 30, it says. Currently suspended until April 2, there is no realistic chance of football resuming then with the country in lockdown and public gatherings banned.
The board decided on the recommendation during a video conference in preparation for a meeting of the 36 teams in the top two divisions on March 31. It is hoped to somehow complete the season by June 30 using time created by the postponement of Euro 2020 to next year. Several clubs have agreed salary reductions with players and officials with up to 750 million euros (809 million dollars) at stake in television, sponsorship and gate money should the league not be finished. 
The DFL, citing responsibility to clubs facing existential danger and 56,000 direct and indirect jobs in football, said it was “working intensively on concepts to play games,” if needed “with a minimum workforce” in the stadium and excluding fans.
The Bundesliga last played on March 11 before the league was suspended on a muddled weekend which saw some games pencilled in to be played behind closed doors while health authorities in certain states said they could not take place at all. Finding a suitable, and safe, way to end the seasons in Germany and elsewhere in Europe is a major priority to avoid both financial ruin and controversy over titles, promotion and relegation. The DFL board also said the tender for the next batch of media rights would be postponed so it could focus on the challenge of the coronavirus crisis.


Maldini expects to recover from coronavirus ‘within a week’

Former Italy football captain Paolo Maldini said he expects to recover “within a week” after being diagnosed with the new coronavirus.
Maldini, 51, now the technical director at AC Milan, and his 18-year-old son Daniel, a youth team player, had been in self-isolation at home for two weeks.
The team announced on Saturday that they would “remain in quarantine until clinically recovered” from Covid-19.
“With this video I wanted to thank all those people who expressed on social media their love and concern for my and my son’s health,” Maldini said on Instagram.
“We’re fine - we should be able to get rid of this virus within a week. Thanks for your continuing affection.
“I wanted to thank all those doctors, nurses, health workers, civil protection and law enforcement officers who are facing this emergency with the utmost professionalism and enormous courage.
“Once again, you make us feel proud of being Italian. Thanks again.”
Maldini, considered one of the greatest defenders of all time, won five Champions League titles with Milan.
All sport in Italy has been suspended until April 3 following the outbreak of a virus which has claimed the lives of over 6,000 people in the country.