By Paul Nicholson
January 21 – The pressure on the Russian Football Union (RFU) to pay its Italian head coach and team manager, Fabio Capello and Oreste Cinquini, has been mounting with criticism of the RFU coming from inside Russia from sports minister Vitaly Mutko and outside from UEFA president Michel Platini.
Even Russia Labour watchdog Rostrud has stepped into the row conducting an inspection of wages at the RFU. Rostrud had earlier issued a deadline of January 19 for the settlement of outstanding wages, which was missed.
Neither Capello or Cinquini have been paid since June 2014 with the debt owed now coming to an estimated 600 million Rubles ($9 million). With the Italians’ salaries negotiated in Euros but paid in Rubles, the cost to Russians has almost doubled over the period of unpaid wages as the value of the Ruble on the currency has plummeted with the collapse in the price of oil and Russia’s economy.
FIFA this week paid Russia $350,000 as part of the country’s World Cup fees which RFU president Nikolai Tolstoy would go to Capello as part payment.
The RFU and Tolstoy potentially face prosecution under Russian law if the Rostrud investigation finds they have acted illegally – deliberate withholding of wages is a criminal offence in Russia. Rumours were initially that wages had been held back in an effort to push Capello into leaving the country and breaking his contract.
“At the moment, Rostrud has no proof from the employer the wage debt has been settled. Under Article 360 of Russia’s Labor Code, Rostrud is going to conduct an early inspection of the Russian Football Union over its failure to act on the previous instructions,” a Rostrud statement to news agency TASS said.
Mutko, who was a prime mover in bringing Capello to Russia, has been critical of the RFU and says that it needs to move fast to resolve the situation, saying that now is a good time for Russian football to secure sponsors. Mutko, himself a previous RFU president, said he will also be speaking to sponsors.
Platini, who was in Moscow at the weekend (his nemesis FIFA president Sepp Blatter was in St Petersburg), entered the debate saying: “I don’t think it is right that Capello is not receiving his salary. It is a bad advertising for the Russian football, especially in light of the upcoming World Cup. Salaries need to be paid for coaches and players. I am fighting that all the contractual obligations are fulfilled in time. Capello never complained to me, I found out about the situation from the press. I recommend that the RFU solves this problem.”
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