Galatasaray signals cutting player salaries due to downturn from the coronavirus outbreak

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Football players' salaries will have to be slashed in order to deal with the economic downturn brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, said Galatasaray Sports Club Chairman Mustafa Cengiz on April 23.

Galatasaray is one of the three most popular football teams in Turkey, and Cengiz said that his club has been effected the most by the negative economic impact of the epidemic. 

“We had the highest revenue from ticket sales and broadcasting. The losses just from the matches that we held without fans amounted to 105 million TL,” Cengiz said, adding that this was seriously affecting the next season's budget, and that “emergency measures” would have to be taken this year in terms of lowering the players' salaries, which total 60 million euros annually before taxes. 

Cengiz denied claims that some of the club's higher-paid players would be leaving, and said that all of the team's players were valuable. 

Cengiz emphasized that Galatasaray's basketball and volleyball teams have performed well in spite of budget cuts, and said that they had no intention of closing the club's amateur branches. 

He added that the remaining eight weeks worth of Super League matches in which Galatasaray and Turkey's other top clubs are scheduled to play should be held in Istanbul, and that all expenses should be covered by the Turkish Football Federation.