Lawyer Gregor Reiter, managing director of the German Football Association (DFVV), looks into the camera on the sidelines of an interview. Photo: Arne Dedert / dpa
© Arne Dedert
The millions of salaries in professional football are criticized by many fans in the corona crisis. The clubs, on the other hand, sometimes no longer know how to pay them. Do you even have employment law opportunities to change anything?
Frankfurt / Main (dpa) – Football professionals only have to worry about their high salaries to a limited extent in the corona crisis.
“If a footballer has to fear anything, then the question: What happens after my current contract expires – or if my club should file for bankruptcy?” Said Christian Hoefs, labor lawyer at Hengeler Mueller in Frankfurt / Main, the German press agency.
According to Gregor Reiter, managing director of the German Football Association (DFVV), most Bundesliga players still have contracts “at the ‘pre-Corona’ level, so that initially – apart from the voluntary salary cuts – for the players at least in this relationship has not changed much. “
For the future, a lot will depend on how long viewers remain excluded. “Nobody can predict that the spectators will flock to the stadiums en masse again when they are finally allowed,” warned Reiter.
At the beginning of the pandemic, according to the DFVV managing director, the salary cuts in the professional squads were on average between ten and twenty percent. In view of the partial lockdown with ghost games, this development has now picked up speed again, as many players have annual income of one or two-digit million euros.
FC Schalke 04 confirmed last week that they had “found a very good, amicable compromise” with the team – valid until the end of the season. In the opinion of labor lawyer Hoefs, voluntary waiver of part of the salary is the only way for Bundesliga clubs to get a little down on their high personnel costs.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201108-99-262273 / 3
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