ROME: Footballers and coaching staff at Italian Serie A team AS Roma, including head coach Paulo Fonseca, will forego four months’ worth of salary they were due to receive between March and June 2020, because of the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The team agreed that the nearly 30 million euros ($32.57 million) saved would be partially used to top up the wages of other club staff placed on the Italian government’s social safety net scheme.
The virus led to the suspension of the Italian League on March 1. AS Roma revealed in a statement that should the current campaign end up being completed, rather than abandoned, “an incentive plan to be paid subject to the achievement of certain sporting objectives” would be implemented.
Italy has so far suffered nearly 24,000 COVID-19 deaths. The government suspended all organized sport on March 9, and since then, some Serie A footballers have been forced to jog, alone, through the streets of their cities to keep up their fitness.
The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has said that it wants the season to be completed when Italy’s COVID-19 lockdown is lifted, which is currently scheduled for May 4 but may be extended.
In early April, Serie A clubs unanimously agreed to cut the salaries of players, coaches and staff, with the exception of reigning champions Juventus. The Turin side, top of the table at the time of the suspension, had already hammered out a deal with their own players.
Roma’s CEO Guido Fienga welcomed the decision, saying that the players and staff “have demonstrated they understand what this club stands for, and we also thank them all for their superb gesture toward the employees at this club. We always talk about unity at Roma, and in volunteering to cut their salaries for the rest of the season, the players, the coach (Fonseca) and his staff have all proved that we really are in this together.”
The club’s players also released a statement, saying: “We are ready to start playing as soon as possible, giving the maximum to achieve our goals, but we also realize that all this will not be enough to face the economic consequences of the current emergency.
“With the hope of doing something that will help the company to better restart the Roma project that we all share, we offer this financial proposal. We also confirm all of our support for the initiatives of AS Roma and Roma Cares to help those who find themselves in difficulty because of the virus. Forza Roma!” the statement added.
The Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport praised the decision as a “commendable, noble gesture.”
Roma’s city rivals SS Lazio, though, are one of the few sides not actively looking to cut costs as a result of COVID-19. The team, one of the best performing in Italy this season and the side currently trailing Juventus in second place, are pressing for the league to be resumed, with the prospect of only the third title in their history on the line.
Lazio’s president, Claudio Lotito, told Corriere dello Sport: “The team and its players share common goals. There are no budgetary urgencies,” before urging the FIGC to continue with matches should the lockdown be lifted on May 4.
But that prospect still seems remote, following the scale of the outbreak across the peninsula and the struggles of some areas, including the city of Bergamo, home of UEFA Champions League high-flyers Atalanta, to cope.
Brescia Calcio’s president, Massimo Cellino, called Lotito’s calls “madness” after announcing that he had contracted COVID-19. “I am not prepared to play anywhere. The season has to end here, and we certainly cannot go beyond June 30. I hear talk of September or October — it’s madness,” the former Leeds United and Cagliari chairman told the Italian newspaper Tuttosport.
