For many weeks, the planet has been facing the coronavirus pandemic, which affects many people. The world of football has therefore not been spared and most of the championships, especially European, have been stopped in recent days. In Switzerland, the Super League was stopped on March 2. And as in many countries, this difficult period leaves its mark. In France or Germany for example, clubs have decided to put their players on partial unemployment. With our neighbors, the president of FC Sion had to make the same decision, but everything did not go as planned.
Several days after this decision, the media 20Minutes.ch simply explained that nine players from the first team, namely Pajtim Kassami, Alex Song, Ermir Lenjani, Xavier Kouassi, Seydou Doumbia, Mickaël Facchinetti, Christian Zock, Birama Ndoye and Johan Djourou, had been fired by Christian Constantin, the president of the club, and its management. The reason ? A refusal to move to partial unemployment and therefore to receive less income. Asked this Saturday by The team, the FCS strongman explained that it could have been worse: “I fired 9 guys, but it could have been 12, 13, like the number who refused short-time working,” he says. But, from 10 a month, it’s a collective dismissal and I have to appeal to the unions. So I chose to fire the older ones, the ones that cost me the most. “
Seydou Doumbia: “There was no dialogue, no accompanying measures”
Quite strong words therefore, and we expected some reactions from the players kicked out. At first, Seydou Doumbia, the Ivorian center-forward, spoke on his Instagram account: “You have no doubt learned through certain newspapers of the difficulties encountered in my employer club FC SION, which proceeded to a collective dismissal of several players from its workforce including me. I want to clarify something very important to me: I remained professional (and I still remain) until the last training with the club when the decision of confinement was made. “
The 32-year-old, who then detailed the hours that followed, ended his message by sending a message to fans of the club. “I would therefore like to enlighten the supporters and supporters of FC SION that there have been, on the part of my teammates and me, no lack of consideration or any other argument, which led to this situation. There was no dialogue, no accompanying measures, none of that. Dear followers, these are the facts that I have had to live in the last 48 hours, in addition to the compulsory confinement and necessary for the survival of each and everyone. Receive my most cordial greetings », concluded the former CSKA Moscow striker in particular.
Xavier Kouassi: “We are not rebels. We all love FC Sion ”
However, Seydou Doumbia was not the only one to break the silence. His former teammate now, Johan Djourou, wanted to provide some details. “We have not refused because we refuse to cut our wages. Currently, partial unemployment is not possible for fixed-term contracts, as in our case. We don’t want to make legal mistakes. We are ready to make sacrifices, notably to devote part of our salaries to club employees. Team executives agreed. It’s even our duty to make sacrifices. Three months without pay will not affect the majority of us. But we also have rights ”, released the 33-year-old Swiss central defender to Blick.
“It’s a matter of communication. We are not rebels. We all love FC Sion. We love Valais and the people here. We are ready to help and make an effort. But what happened was blackmail “, said for his part another player fired by FC Sion, Xavier Kouassi, always in the local newspaper. A method of President Constantine which therefore does not pass, in particular to the President of the players’ union, Lucien Valloni, who replied in an interview with the Morning.
“Christian Constantin is just interested in his wallet! “
“We don’t at all agree with what happened. It’s clearly a lack of respect. Mr. Constantin does not respect the law, does not respect contracts, does not respect people. It’s incredible, absurd. It’s irresponsible behavior. Apart from the fact that the club does not want to pay its players, there is no explanation. We know that there are liquidity problems for the clubs. But we have to find an intelligent solution, together, not in this way. Zion has no financial problems. Christian Constantin is a millionaire, where is the concern? He’s just interested in his wallet! “ Atmosphere.
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