World Cup-bound France are in a dispute with the country’s football federation over reduced bonuses for the forthcoming Mundial.
According to L’Equipe, there is discontent in the French national team after the national football federation wanted to reduce the bonuses paid to players during the World Cup.
The newspaper reports that federation president Philippe Diallo has asked the players to accept lower compensation than before. This applies in particular to the bonus paid per match played.
The federation plan austerity measures for the national teams.
L’Equipe reported that Diallo has justified the proposal by saying that FIFA money has been lower than expected, that the exchange rate between the dollar and the euro has had a negative impact and that the costs of the championship are expected to be higher than normal.
However, not all players are said to have accepted this reasoning.
The newspaper wrote that several players question how the association could want to lower bonuses at the same time as recently signing a new sponsorship agreement with Nike worth 100 million euros per year..
The dissatisfaction is also said to have been compounded by the fact that the same federation management chose to double the bonuses just four months earlier after France qualified for the World Cup as top experts predicted.
