Espanyol have confirmed they have imposed a 70 percent pay cut for all players, coaches, physios of their men’s, women’s and youth teams.
The club is activating an ERTE – Spain’s temporary redundancy scheme which is activated by the state of emergency within the country, with businesses losing access to their profits.
It follows a report in Cadena Cope last night revealing how Espanyol’s Catalan rivals Barcelona are also set to trigger an ERTE, despite the move – somewhat understandably – proving deeply unpopular with the club’s playing staff.
A statement released from Espanyol on Friday stated: “The Espanyol squad realises the delicacy of the situation and has shown a willingness to reach an amicable agreement with club without having to take measures which are more drastic, with the main objective of safeguarding the future of the club.”
The coronavirus outbreak has brought sport across the world to a halt with Spanish football suspended indefinitely – meaning that all clubs have no income from matchdays or, for the elite clubs, their museums.
As of Thursday, there were 56,188 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Spain with 4,089 deaths while a further 3,679 Spaniards are currently in intensive care.
Spain is now behind only Italy on the global scale for the most deaths due to the virus, with the nation now 12 days into a 30-day state of lockdown.
