Messi, teammates taking 70% pay cut
MADRID » In a letter critical of Barcelona club officials, Lionel Messi and his teammates said on Monday they are taking a 70% cut in salaries because of the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Barcelona players wrote in a social media post that they will also make donations so other club employees are not badly affected by the upheaval.
“A lot has been said about Barcelona’s first team and the players’ salaries during the country’s state of alarm,” they wrote in the letter. “Before anything, we would like to make it clear that we have always wanted to reduce our salaries as we perfectly understand that this is an exceptional situation and we ALWAYS were the first ones to help the club when it asked. Actually, we have done that on our own in moments when we felt it was necessary or important.”
Sports make political point for Belarus amid virus outbreak
MINSK, BELARUS » With most sports around the world shutting down because of the coronavirus pandemic, longtime Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko is proudly keeping soccer and hockey arenas open.
The Eastern European nation of nearly 9.5 million even started a whole new soccer season this month as coronavirus cases rose.
The move has the full support of Lukashenko, who took to the ice in an amateur hockey tournament on Saturday with a few hundred spectators in the stands.
“It’s better to die standing than to live on your knees,” he said, defending Belarus’ refusal to introduce isolation measures and border restrictions like its neighbors, such as Russia.
With foreign sports networks having little to show and few other options for sports betting, Lukashenko says the pandemic is a perfect opportunity to put the country’s soccer league on display.
“I look at Russia and some people there are winning a lot on bets, because beforehand they didn’t really know our teams,” Lukashenko said. “Someone’s losing, someone’s winning. It’s all useful.”
Marin granted early release from prison
NEW YORK » The former head of Brazilian soccer was granted compassionate release from a U.S. federal prison on Monday amid the new coronavirus pandemic, his sentence cut short by about eight months.
José Maria Marin was sentenced to four years in prison in August 2018 for his participation in a scheme to accept bribes in exchange for the media and marketing rights to soccer tournaments.
U.S. District Judge Pamela K. Chen announced her decision one day after Marin’s lawyers filed a sealed emergency motion to reduce his sentence. Marin turns 88 on May 6.
Chen cited “his advanced age, significantly deteriorating health, elevated risk of dire health consequences due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, status as a non-violent offender and service of 80% of his original sentence” as among the reasons for her decision.