Under the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, all football contests in Vietnam have been suspended; football clubs have had no revenue; many sponsors have been struggling to deal with difficulties in production and business. Many clubs have had to reduce the wages of their athletes as a solution for their scanty financial resources.
Under the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, all football contests in Vietnam have been suspended; football clubs have had no revenue; many sponsors have been struggling to deal with difficulties in production and business. Many clubs have had to reduce the wages of their athletes as a solution for their scanty financial resources.
In Vietnam, professional sports tournaments and athletes’ income have been reliant mainly on the financial support from sponsors. Therefore, the decline in funding from sponsors has placed sports clubs in a situation that they have to cut spending and reduce athletes’ wages. As of now, nearly half of clubs in V-League 1 (the top professional football league in Vietnam) have implemented a policy of reducing players’ wages by 20% to 30%. Thanh Hoa was the earliest team of V-League 1 to implement this policy in March with 30% deduction of wage, which has increased to 40% in April. This deduction is expected to rise by 50% in May in case V-League 1 is not organized. In April, Nam Dinh, Quang Nam, Hong Linh, Saigon, and Ho Chi Minh City started to apply salary deduction policy. In some clubs, players take a pay cut as a way to share their club’s financial burden and show their social responsibility.
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The teams of V-League 2 (Vietnamese National Football First League) are also facing the same difficulties as V-League 1 teams. In Khanh Hoa Province, the coronavirus outbreak has wreaked havoc on the production and business of the sponsors for professional and young provincial sports teams. Under this circumstance, lower pay policy is an appropriate and necessary one for the clubs to survive.
Reportedly, against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic and difficulties of sponsors in production and business, Khanh Hoa’s footballers only received an advance of 50 per cent of their salary amid the disease outbreak. Another deduction of 10 per cent has been applied in April. Coaches and players of other sports even took 30% pay cut in March. “In this situation, we fully agree with the policy and want to share difficulties with the club,” said a coach of a sports team in Khanh Hoa.
Vietnam entered the second stage of nationwide social distancing. Only a few new coronavirus cases have been reported in some localities around the country, as stated by the Ministry of Health. Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company lately announced the schedule for the country’s professional football tournaments 2020. Accordingly, Vietnam’s national cup 2020 is planned to kick off on May 15. In fact, this schedule still depends on the situation of the pandemic and directives of competent authorities.
Phuc Hieu
Translated by H.N
