DFL president Christian Seifert creates task force to explore salary cap (kicker)

Christian Seifert intends to establish a task force called “Zukunft Profifußball” (“Future Pro Football”) to explore a cap on player wages and agent fees. Seifert said:

If it is possible to cap managers’ salaries, then it must also be possible to cap the salaries of agents and players.

Seifert explained his rationale for exploring the question:

It is not at all easy to have a discussion about potentially deleterious developments in a system that has been so successful in the last few years as professional soccer. I don’t at all mean growing revenue from media rights, but rather stadiums up to 90 percent sold-out, stabile ratings in an eroding media landscape, and uninterrupted sponsoring demand.

The most palpable criticism is concentrated at the intersection of sports and economics. It has to do with player wages, shamelessly flaunted wealth, transfer fees, and agents who make millions for a model labor contract that they can download from us off the Internet. And that simply because they know the right 23-year-old. Those are painful points for all of us. We need solutions that work in everyday reality. We can’t become the World Champions of statements. There need to be solutions that identify questionable developments on an objective basis and then at least limit, or perhaps correct them. And not symbolic policies. Symbolic policies help nobody.

Seifert cited Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge for his prescient motion to reduce player salaries. Seifert explained that Rummenigge:

Saw this negative development in German soccer perhaps even earlier than anyone else. He was already with then-UEFA president Michael Platini at the EU and spoke about a salary cap.

Currently, a salary cap would violate European law, but Seifert hopes that the European Union could potentially come around to the idea of passing regulatory legislation. Seifert concluded:

First the EU would have to signal that it wants to regulate this special industry, which soccer now is, accordingly as such.

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2019/20 season of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 cancelled

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Wishing Paulo Dybala a speedy and complete recovery

Despite being one of the earliest football pros to go under complete isolation, the coronavirus , unfortunately , infected Juventus ’ Paulo Dybala and his partner. In a time when quarantine itself is an emotional burden, getting infected by a pandemic disease and let alone for the infection to re-occur for the fourth time in such a short span is very harsh on the young man. Wishing him a complete rapid recovery!

Bonus: Dybala’s “Doggo”

The new member of the Dybala family will undoubtedly help to keep up the positivity within the household!

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PSG president and former FIFA secretary-general to be tried for corruption (Firstpost)

PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi — who is also the Chairman of the sports network beIN Sports — and former FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke will be tried for a corruption case linked to the attribution of broadcasting rights of major footballing events including the 2026 and 2030 football World Cups.

The Swiss Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona will try the PSG president, Valcke, and a third unnamed person for “criminal mismanagement, incitement to criminal mismanagement, falsifying documents and corruption” in September.

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Phone-sie Flick:

Great to see the head coach make the best of pseudo-off-season and prepare for the incoming talents.

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Bayern Munich’s pursuit of Atlético Madrid’s Thomas Partey just a rumour ?

Given the current logjam, Falk could finally be right. Bayern’s having trouble keeping its resident midfielders satisfied and with an ambitious transfer plan full of expensive wingers, fullbacks, strikers and attackers; another midfielder may not exactly be high on Bayern’s shopping list this summer.

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The Tokyo Olympics face possible cancellation (Reuters)

The Japan Medical Association(JMA) president, Yoshitake Yokokura had made a statement on finding a vaccine against corona being crucial to the possibility of hosting the Olympics

In a video media conference, Yokokura said:

I hope vaccines and drugs will be developed as soon as possible. I am not saying that Japan should or shouldn’t host the Olympics, but that it would be difficult to do so.

However, the International Olympics Committee(IOC) member John Coates responded to that statement, calling the decision to plan for 2021 being independent of a vaccine.

But the advice we’re getting from WHO (the World Health Organisation) says we should continue to plan for this date and that is what we’re doing, and that’s not contingent on a vaccine.A vaccine would be nice.

Stating Yokokura’s and JMA’s comments as an opinion, Coates nevertheless underlined that the IOC will continue to be guided by the WHO and Japanese medical authorities as the situations continue to develop.

But we will just continue to be guided, as we must be, by WHO and the Japanese health authorities because in all of this, the health and wellbeing of the athletes and other participants in the Games is the number one priority