The COVID-19 Pandemic Opens Opportunities For The Application Of Salary Cap In Football

JAKARTA - There is always a lesson from every incident, including the COVID-19 pandemic. This crisis turned out to provide an opportunity for the world of football to carry out reforms for the future, especially regarding restrictions on player salaries.

President of the German Football Federation (DFB) Fritz Keller proposed a plan to implement a salary cap in the German League to help football sustain.

"We have to bring professional football back closer to society. We have to think about the salary cap," Keller was quoted as saying on the official DFB website.

"The commissions for advisory players and the huge transfer value irritates society even more and separates it from the sport we love," he added.

Salary cap is a salary limit that must be obeyed by the participating clubs. For example, in the NBA basketball competition, the maximum salary limit is 49 to 51 percent of annual revenue.

He added that German football needs to undertake independent criticism, and the crisis caused by COVID-19 has offered the opportunity to look forward and reposition football so that it can protect it for generations to come.

In addition, for Keller, the capacity for COVID-19 testing in football can help society in general.

"I see football as having a responsibility to contribute ... Prevention and large-scale tests can help contain the spread of the virus until a vaccine is developed," he believes.

"Politics and science should choose to carry out preventive tests, there football will make its contribution with this approach, with extraordinary power, popularity, logistics and infrastructure," concluded the former SC Freiburg president.

The German League is Europe's only top-flight competition to continue after being suspended two months ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Matchday 26 of the Bundesliga has rolled back since last Saturday.