Reporter Jia Yanfeng reported that the prelude to the new round of salary cuts in the Chinese Football Professional League has begun again, and since the Guangzhou team announced the salary system for the new season, Wuhan Zhuoer Club has also made its attitude clear: "Encourage players to take the initiative to lower their personal salary standards; advocate a positive, healthy and upward view of football and career, and will vigorously cultivate and enable a new generation of like-minded players." ”
From the announcements of the two teams, we can clearly see that both teams want to cut salaries, but one is still brewing: the highest salary standard given by Guangzhou to the first-team substitutes is 144,000 yuan before tax, barely covering the average salary standard of 127,572 yuan in Guangzhou in the fourth quarter of 2021, and the maximum salary standards for the reserve team's substitutes and selected players are 90,000 yuan before tax and 60,000 yuan before tax, respectively. This is already significantly lower than the average wage in Guangzhou. Wuhan clubs encourage players to take the initiative to reduce salaries, and the specific range is not clearly disclosed.
In fact, it is definitely not only these two companies that want to cut salaries in the same way, and the range of salary cuts is also in line with the "diving salary reduction" of Guangzhou team. Of course, the vast majority of clubs are requiring players to sign lower-paying contracts in the name of the Football Association. Is all this really required by the Chinese Football Association? Let's dig into the truth.
On December 13, 2020, in order to implement financial reform and regulatory system, and also implement a new round of salary reduction policy, the Chinese Football Association officially issued the document "Notice on Issuing financial agreed indicators for Chinese Super League Clubs in the 2021-2023 Season", which clearly stipulates: "From January 1, 2021, clubs shall comply with the requirements of the above provisions. Using the standard standard contract template published by the Chinese Football Association or the authorized institution of the Chinese Football Association to sign a new contract with the players of the club (including newly introduced players), if the salary of the original contract is higher than the salary agreed in the new contract, the two parties shall sign a supplementary agreement amicably to stipulate the payment method of the remuneration difference part, and the club shall not be included in the accounting scope of the player's salary and the club's total expenditure limit in accordance with the supplementary agreement in accordance with the supplementary agreement. ”
In the original formulation of the FA's notice, there is no mention of the repeal of the original contract, and at the same time, the players with the original contract are not forced to reduce their salaries. However, in the process of implementation, the standards of various clubs are different. Some clubs faithfully implemented the change version, did not change the salary treatment of the contract, but put the compliant pre-tax 5 million part into the original contract, and the excess part was written into the supplementary agreement; some clubs forcibly reduced the salary of high-paid players to the pre-tax standard of 5 million in the name of the Football Association, and there was no supplementary agreement; and some clubs, the original contract also met the pre-tax 5 million standard, were also forcibly reduced or even directly forcibly terminated, and some players agreed to a salary cut for their livelihood. Some submitted a complaint to the Arbitration Commission of the Chinese Football Association. Many of the cases received by the Arbitration Committee of the Chinese Football Association last season were related to forced salary cuts or terminations, some of which were filed by multiple players of a club collectively.
The Chinese Football Association did not ask the club to break the contract, but in the end, it became a forced termination of the contract in the name of the Chinese Football Association.
After the release of the new salary limit regulations for the Guangzhou team, the outside world laughed and said: Guangzhou Evergrande was once the team with the highest salary standard in the Chinese league, the upper limit was set by them, and now, the lower limit is also set by them. However, the salary standard given by the Guangzhou team has been lower than the per capita salary level in Guangzhou, and the Chinese Football Association has not made any statement on this so far, you know, in the era when Jinyuan football was popular, the Chinese Football Association also allowed Evergrande and some follower clubs to offer high salaries to players, and the impact of Chinese football overheating on the league is obvious, and now it is also necessary to prevent overcooling.
The Chinese Football Association does have a new salary restriction order in the final determination, including the maximum salary of local players 3 million yuan before tax, foreign aid maximum salary tax of 2 million euros, the Chinese Super League club investment ceiling of 300 million yuan and other provisions, but the relevant system is aimed at new contracts, and there is no provision for re-signing existing contracts.
So why are clubs so confident in cutting salaries?
First, last year, many teams have profited from this, and the Football Association has opened a window to re-sign the contract, although it did not require the abolition of the original contract, but also did not give clear instructions for the abolition of the original contract;
Second, the entire ball market is sluggish, many clubs want to quit, players have a priceless team is difficult to find, the former seller's market has become today's buyer's market, and the pricing power is in the hands of the club;
Third, even if many players complained to the Arbitration Commission last year and received the support of the arbitration commission's ruling, they did not agree to the club's forcible breach of the contract and supported the continued performance of the contract. However, due to the lack of enforcement power by the arbitration commission, the consequence of some clubs' default last year was nothing more than that they were not allowed to introduce reinforcements, which was not binding or punitive at all for clubs that wanted to save money.
As a result, this year there are more clubs competing to follow suit, as far as the capital side is concerned, forced salary cuts are collective behavior, and with the endorsement of the document requiring salary cuts by the Chinese Football Association, some clubs are eager to re-sign the contract like last year (putting the excess part into the supplementary agreement), then everything will become more natural.
The fact that Chinese football is not playing well is a matter of level, but the way the Chinese football circle treats labor contracts just proves that there are no rules or even legal system, which obviously cannot be explained by the level problem.
Last year, there was no clear evidence to make up for the income, only subjective statement of business difficulties as the reason for breach of contract, has been rejected several times by the Arbitration Commission of the Chinese Football Association, the Arbitration Commission stressed that the epidemic is not a reason to coerce and kidnap any player to forcibly agree to a salary cut, the Chinese Football Association advocates a proactive way to find ways, open and fair to communicate, the way to reduce salaries can not be said in a word, the club said how to do.
And the way to reduce salaries can not have only one plan, always give players a way out and choose the space, for example, the salary reduction can be reduced by year, or the treatment given to players can also lengthen the payment cycle, all of the above are really want to reduce wages, but directly force players from 5 million before tax to 600,000 before tax, and players do not have any right to refute, which is obviously beyond the scope of normal people's understanding of salary cuts, it is no wonder that players are difficult to accept.
The latest salary cut document of the Chinese Football Association has not yet been released, but it has been chaotic. It is not known whether the new document can add clauses respecting the integrity and validity of the contract, as well as the minimum income limit for players, so as to further stop the spread of this chaos. In 2021, many players will lose their status or even their jobs because of wage arrears or contract disputes. Will this phenomenon continue in 2022?