FC Barcelona seek to cut players’ salaries by 70 percent until June 30 due to COVID-19

Spanish La Liga club FC Barcelona want the players to cut their salaries by 70 percent until June 30 as a way of saving around 106 million euros (117 million dollars) due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the Spanish Marca sport newspaper reported on Monday.

According to the report, the club will lose at least 100 million euros (110.7 million dollars). The amount is about 10 percent of the club’s budget for the 2019/20 season.

The club’s board of directors is currently working to invoke the ERTE, or temporary employment measures, which will suspend the players’ labor contracts.

The system will be in place in the coming days and will help the club compensate any financial losses.

In the last week, it was confirmed that Leo Messi had made a large donation to the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona and also to hospitals in Argentina.

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HIGHEST DAILY DEATHS IN SPAIN

With 838 deaths recorded in the past 24 hours, Spain saw the highest daily COVID-19 death toll on Sunday, according to data from its Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Services.

The figure is six more than the previous figure, bringing the total death tally to 6,528 since the first death in the country was confirmed on March 3.

Meanwhile, the country detected 6,549 new COVID-19 patients, pushing the total number of confirmed cases to 78,797.

Madrid continues to be the worst affected part of the country as the pandemic has claimed 3,082 victims, or 47 percent of all deaths nationwide, and infected 22,677 people in total.

Source: Xinhua