By Richard van Poortvliet
May 6 – Russia could be about to introduce a salary cap for its clubs, according to the Honorary President of the Russian Football Union, Vyacheslav Koloskov (pictured). The Russian State Duma took the lead in promoting the idea to the association.
“We need to try and see if this idea works through the sports federations. If it does not work, then the State Duma should take responsibility for it,” Koloskov mentioned, who is in favour of introducing a salary cap.
“Introducing a limit would be following on from UEFA’s principles about financial fair play. At the moment, there is no such system in the football leagues, but in theory, such a move would be in the same spirit as financial fair play. It is not a coincidence that Platini worked on such a principle.”
Koloskov does not think that this idea is linked to a limit on foreign players in Russia. On the contrary, he is in favour of the limit on players without a Russian passport being relaxed as this will mean Russian players will not be able to command such high salaries, as they will not be as valuable to their teams but will be judged more on playing ability rather than kept in squads to meet quotas.
At present four Russian players must be on the pitch at any one time. Therefore a talented Russian player becomes of immense value to a club, with owners are willing to pay these players vastly inflated salaries, even if they are only on the fringes of the first team.
If a salary cap is to be introduced, a lot of work will have to be done to persuade the clubs, who are likely to oppose any such plans. There is no information currently about the financial structure of a possible salary cap.
The National Football League, which is Russia’s first division, a notch down from the Premier League has already introduced a salary cap, which will limit players, coaches and officials to receiving a monthly income of 300,000 roubles ($8,370). However, teams are free to pay bonuses to their players, which will not count against the salary cap.
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