FC Augsburg einigt sich mit Spielern und Verantwortlichen auf Gehaltsverzicht

Auch der FC Augsburg hat auf die finanziellen Auswirkungen der Corona-Krise reagiert. Mit den Spielern, Trainern und Betreuern der Profi-Mannschaft hat man sich auf einen Verzicht eines Teiles der Gehälter verständigt.

Geschäftsführer Stefan Reuter bezeichnete den solidarischen Akt der Mannschaft als "wichtiges Zeichen" der Unterstützung. Die Einsparungen beim Gehalt der Spieler sollen helfen, um die aktuelle Krisensituation meistern zu können.

"Selbst wenn der Spielbetrieb - wenn auch ohne Zuschauer - in absehbarer Zeit wieder aufgenommen werden sollte, müssen wir bis Kalenderjahresende Einnahmeverluste im zweistelligen Millionenbereich hinnehmen", wird Finanz-Geschäftsführer Michael Ströll vom kicker zitiert. "Klares Ziel" sei es, "diese Krise und die damit verbundenen wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen aus eigener Kraft zu überstehen".

FC Augsburg verzichtet auf Kurzarbeit

Aus eigener Kraft bedeutet für den FC Augsburg auch, keine staatlichen Hilfe in Anspruch nehmen zu müssen. Etwa, die Mitarbeiter des Klubs in Kurzarbeit zu schicken.

Über den genauen Anteil des Verzichts der Spieler und wie lange dieser gelten soll, ist nichts bekannt. Ein wichtiges Zeichen der Solidarität gegenüber dem Klub und seinen Mitarbeitern ist aber gesetzt.

South Korean football snapped up by broadcasters

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Broadcasters in 10 foreign territories have bought rights to air the upcoming South Korean football season, the K-League said, with major sports on hold around the world over the coronavirus pandemic.

South Korea endured one of the worst early outbreaks of the disease outside China, prompting professional sports to suspend or delay their seasons.

But the country appears to have brought its outbreak under control thanks to an extensive "trace, test and treat" programme, and its football season will start on May 8, shortly after baseball resumes on May 5, both behind closed doors.

It will be an oasis of live action in a world where sports fans have been starved of such content by the virus, with broadcasters resorting to repeats of matches from past years, while leagues face the prospect of paying rights-holders multi-million-dollar refunds.

As a result there is new-found interest among broadcasters who would not normally screen the likes of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors or Pohang Steelers.

"K-League can confirm that 10 overseas broadcasters have purchased broadcast rights for the upcoming 2020 season," it said in a statement issued Monday.

It did not specify the firms but said their locations included China, Hong Kong and "eastern European nations such as Croatia".

"Broadcasters from Germany, France, Italy, the US and Australia as well as other online platforms have inquired about purchasing broadcast rights," it added.

South Korea has been seeing only a trickle of new coronavirus infections, with 14 fresh cases on Tuesday taking the total to 10,752.

Former Liverpool striker Michael Robinson dies at 61

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Liverpool's former Republic of Ireland striker Michael Robinson, who became a well-known commentator in Spain, has died aged 61, prompting an outpouring of tributes.

Robinson, who settled in Spain after his playing career and developed an award-winning media career, succumbed to cancer that was first diagnosed in 2018. He passed away at his home in Marbella.

"With tremendous sadness we inform you of Michael's death," his family said in a Twitter message on Tuesday.

"It leaves us with a great emptiness, but also countless memories, full of the same love that you have shown him.

"We will be eternally grateful to you for making this man SO HAPPY, he never walked alone. Thank you."

After spells with Preston North End and Manchester City Robinson featured in the 1983 FA Cup final for Brighton, before moving to Anfield.

He was part of the Liverpool squad that captured the league, League Cup and European Cup treble in 1984.

"We're deeply saddened by the passing of former player Michael Robinson, aged 61," Liverpool tweeted.

"The thoughts of everybody at Liverpool Football Club are with Michael's family and friends at this sad time. Rest in peace, Michael."

Anfield hero Kenny Dalglish told the club's website: "First and foremost, Michael was a good teammate to every one of us and he made an important contribution on and off the pitch, none more so than during the 1983-84 season when we were fortunate enough to win three trophies.

"He will be remembered with fondness and affection."

After Liverpool, Robinson joined Queens Park Rangers, before ending his career with Spanish side Osasuna.

He retired in 1989 but remained in Spain, mastering the language and becoming one of the country's most distinguished football pundits.

According to Spanish daily El Pais, Robinson "revolutionised the way football was analysed".

Barcelona said he was "a person who loved football and who knew how to explain it with knowledge and ingenuity".

Real Madrid described him as "a legend".

"After his retirement from soccer, he dedicated his professional life to sports journalism, where his work on television, radio and in the written press stood out, earning the affection of all soccer and sports fans in general," the club added.

Liverpool's 2005 Champions League winner Luis Garcia tweeted: "R.I.P Michael Robinson. The Liverpool legend that got in all the Spanish homes with his fantastic commentaries every Weekend !! #YNWA."

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he had been a fan of Robinson.

"He was with us on thousands of afternoons of football, recounting incredible anecdotes, and showing us a way of life beyond football," said Sanchez.

In a sign of the mark he had made on Spanish society, the Madrid Municipal Police tweeted their own tribute.

"We join in the condolences to the family, friends and all those whom he leaves bereft of his talent. A sporting, journalistic and human reference. Rest in peace," the capital's police force said.

Retired Spanish Formula One driver Pedro de la Rosa said: "I will never forget how much he liked to talk about F1, mesmerising you with his stories. RIP."

Robinson earned 24 caps for Ireland, scoring four goals.

Robert Herbin, 'who made the impossible possible'

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French football is mourning Robert Herbin, the inspirational coach of the flamboyant Saint-Etienne team that was narrowly defeated in the 1976 European Cup final.

Herbin died on Monday aged 81 after being taken to hospital last week with heart and lung problems unrelated to coronavirus.

He played more than 400 matches for Saint-Etienne and later brought a cerebral approach to coaching, earning the nickname the "The Sphinx" as he dragged French football back into the international spotlight.

France's national team slumped in the early 1970s, failing to reach the 1970 and 1974 World Cup finals, so the European run of Herbin's Saint-Etienne side caught the nation's attention.

The green-shirted team from central France that featured future France and Tottenham Hotspur manager Jacques Santini, midfielder creator Jean-Michel Larque and the talented Dominique Rocheteau as a substitute were beaten 1-0 by Bayern Munich at Hampden Park in Glasgow.

Herbin recalled that he was convinced everything conspired against his team that night.

"It left a deep impression on me. I have never got over it. I still think about it today. I think the good Lord wasn't with us, neither were the goalposts or the crossbar," he told AFP in 2015.

St Etienne board member Bernard Caiazzo paid tribute to Herbin, saying: "We will always remember a great international player but also an exceptional coach who brought the pride back to French football at a time when we were at a low."

"He showed us that 'impossible' doesn't exist in football," St Etienne chairman Roland Romeyer said.

"That is how St Etienne beat the biggest clubs in Europe in the 1970s. His greatest achievement was to get a whole city and country behind the team. He had unbelievable charisma and power."

Herbin coached St Etienne for 14 seasons in all, from 1972 to 1983 and then again from 1987 to 1990.

Bundesliga could resume in 'mid to late May'

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Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn CDU meets the State Premier of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil SPD , in Hanover on 28 04 2020.

The Bundesliga could return by "the middle or end of May", Germany's sports ministers have said, as the league awaits the go-ahead from Angela Merkel's government to resume the season.

The sports ministers of Germany's 16 states met Monday and announced in a statement that it is "justifiable" for the league to resume "in empty stadiums" from "the middle or end of May".

"The German Football League must create and enforce the strictest hygienic and medical conditions, and monitor them with appropriate measures," added the statement.

German Chancellor Merkel will meet state leaders in Berlin on Thursday, when it is hoped the Bundesliga will get the green light to resume.

All football in Germany ground to a halt in mid March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Last week, the German Football League (DFL) announced it is ready to resume from May 9, albeit behind closed doors with tight hygiene measures and players tested regularly.

A return in May would make the Bundesliga the first top league in Europe to resume as Germany cautiously eases lockdown measures.

Key politicians, including health minister Jens Spahn, have backed the league's return plans, which are currently being reviewed by the Ministry of Labour.

However, both newspapers Bild and Munich-based Sueddeutsche Zeitung claim May 9 is "probably" too soon for a restart.

Last weekend, Borussia Dortmund's CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke warned "the entire Bundesliga will go down" unless the league restarts.

"It will no longer exist in the form we have known it," Watzke told Sky Sports News, warning that several clubs could go under.

Germany's top clubs are desperate for the league season to be completed by June 30 in order to claim an instalment of television money worth 300 million euros ($325 million).

Magazine Kicker claims 13 of the 36 clubs in the top two leagues are on the verge of insolvency due to the crisis.

Nevertheless, there is heated debate about whether the Bundesliga should resume amid the pandemic which has so far claimed just under 6,000 lives in Germany.

Annalena Baerbock, the co-leader of the Green Party, says "it is deeply unfair" for professional football to restart when "a child is not even allowed to play on a lonely swing" with playgrounds still closed.

Christian Seifert, CEO of the German League, says such arguments are understandable.

"The fact that the Bundesliga can play again means it is compared to other areas" in German society, said Seifert, but "what we are doing is not arrogant or presumptuous".

Premier League's 'Project Restart' gathers pace

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Oliver Dowden

Tottenham became the latest Premier League club to open their doors to players on Tuesday as part of the "Project Restart" plan to finish the English top-flight season.

The Premier League has been suspended since March 13 due to the coronavirus crisis but there is growing belief the campaign can be concluded over the summer months.

Resuming matches on June 8 is reportedly among the ideas set to be discussed when the Premier League's key stakeholders meet on Friday.

That would require full training to begin by May 18 and Premier League clubs are starting to work towards that date by giving players the option of using their training grounds.

Tottenham have followed Arsenal, West Ham and Brighton in allowing players to use facilities for individual sessions that conform to social-distancing guidelines.

"No more than one player per pitch will be permitted at any one time to undertake on-pitch exercise, with only a restricted number of the squad coming to the training centre each day," a Tottenham statement said.

"Each player will travel independently and arrive at the facilities already dressed in training wear before returning home immediately after they have concluded their session."

After weeks of lockdown in Britain, ministers believe the return of football would boost morale.

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden who is responsible for sport, said he had been in talks with the Premier League "with a view to getting football up and running as soon as possible" but stressed any moves would have to be consistent with public health guidance.

The clubs remain committed to ending the 2019/20 campaign and there are compelling financial and legal reasons to play the remaining 92 games.

The Premier League's medical adviser, Mark Gillett, and the Football Association's head of medicine, Charlotte Cowie, are understood to be part of a group of officials who will meet on a weekly basis with government and public health representatives.

Regular virus testing of all players and key staff would be a crucial part of the restart plan and the cost of those tests would be met centrally by the Premier League, according to reports.

All clubs will be working to the same protocols in terms of training sessions, which will be designed to minimise the risk of infection.

Matches would almost certainly be played behind closed doors and clubs have reportedly been told that only approved stadiums could be used, with higher health certification than normal.

The Professional Footballers' Association are involved in discussions and have raised the issue of players not wanting to be put at risk by returning too soon.

"We have reiterated that players are not just footballers but partners, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters who share the same health concerns as everyone else during this pandemic," said PFA deputy chief executive Bobby Barnes.

"We have been assured of the intentions of all that there would be no resumption unless guarantees of safety could be given to the players."

The return of football remains controversial, with Britain still battling the pandemic.

Watford chief executive Scott Duxbury said: "Football, for me now, just needs to be put to one side. I feel uncomfortable at this stage even talking about football as a narrative, because there are people dying every day.

"There are stresses on the NHS and that has to be our priority.

"When it is safe and the government say it is absolutely fine for players and support staff to return, then I am 100 percent behind that."

Swiss to try PSG chief Al-Khelaifi, ex-FIFA number two Valcke in September: official

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Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and FIFA's former secretary general Jerome Valcke will be tried in September in a corruption case linked to the attribution of broadcasting rights, the Swiss judiciary said Tuesday.

The two individuals will be tried along with a third, unnamed man, for criminal mismanagement, incitement to criminal mismanagement, falsifying documents and corruption, the federal criminal court said.