Mohun Bagan to Clear Players' Dues by July 20; More Than 8 Million Italians Tune in as Football Starts and More (Football Round-up)

Mohun Bagan has assured players the club will clear players salaries in two installments, the first to be paid by June 30. The club said it will pay half the dues by June 30 and the rest will be paid on or before July 20 as part of the second installment.

In a letter addressed to the players, the club gave them the assurance that pending salaries will be paid along with the promised bonuses for winning the I-League title in the 2019-20 season, Goal.com reported.

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"As per our commitment, we will be clearing all the dues to the players in the near future. We propose to pay 50 percent of your pending salaries by June 30, 2020 and the rest 50 per cent on or before July 20, 2020," the letter read.

"We will also process the bonuses within 15 days of receiving the prize money and season subsidies from AIFF (All India Football Federation). We are following up on this issue with AIFF on a regular basis," it said.

Mohun Bagan won the I-League in April convincingly, days before the league was suspended. The remaining 28 matches were called off due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Serie A Returns

The return of Italian football on television was a success for the country with more than eight million tuning in to watch the Coppa Italia semi final second leg between Juventus and AC Milan.

The match was initially scheduled to be played on March 9 in Italy but the season was put on halt due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

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A 0-0 stalemate sent Juventus to the final, garnering the highest TV audience for a football match this term, Italian media reported on Saturday.

When he authorized the resumption of football, Italian Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora was very welcoming of the fact that the first match was the Italian Cup, as they are broadcast free-to-air on national network RAI and are accessible to everyone.

On Friday, the match reached a watching of over 8.3 million live viewers on RAI 1, with a 34 percent market share.

The biggest highest viewership before the lockdown was for the first leg of the semifinal that attracted 8.09 million viewers.

Chennayin FC and Grassroots

More than 50,000 children, a majority of them girls, are going to be a part of Indian Super League (ISL) side Chennaiyin FC’s grassroots programme, co-owner Vita Dani said.

“We like to bet on young talent and will be more than happy to absorb any talented little girl into our ecosystem,” Dani said at a webinar for women organised by Sports For All (SFA).

“In fact, Indian women are leading the country’s charge in the world of sport simply because today’s girls want to excel at anything and everything that they do,” she added.

Sports For All (SFA) founder Rishikesh Joshi, who moderated the show, pointed that it took a long time for an Indian woman to win the first Olympic medal.

“But since Karnam Malleswari achieved that breakthrough with a bronze at the Sydney Games, three other women have won medals at the Olympics,” he said.

Ligue 1 Clubs Left on the Outside

Football seems to have revived in major parts of Europe, leaving France behind. Earlier this week the highest administrative court in the country upheld the decision that was made in April to terminate the Ligue 1 and 2 seasons. However, with Germany, Italy and Spain starting football action and the Premier League starting on 17 June, French football clubs are still unsure about their future.

Three clubs – Lyon, Amiens and Toulouse have been angered by the cancellation of the season and the “arbitrary and unfair” decision to choose the winner. They sought legal recourse. Lyon argued that the league should have waited and explored ending the season in a fair way, without jeopardising public health or, failing that, simply voided the season. But the Conseil d’État declared the league was well within its rights to wind the season up as it did – but suspended the relegations of Amiens and Toulouse, at least until the league figures out the structure they will play in next season. 

It opens up the possibility of Ligue 1 being expanded to 22 teams next season, with Amiens and Toulouse staying put while Lorient and Lens are promoted.

“I think we have scored a victory for football’s values,” rejoiced Amiens president Bernard Joannin. “It’s very satisfying, I’ve always said the league’s decision was unfair and incoherent.” There was a similar sense of relief at Toulouse, who were 14 points away from the safe spot with nine matches remaining when the season saw an abrupt finish.

Mallorca Coach Wary of Angering Messi

Real Mallorca welcomed Barcelona and captain Lionel Messi on Saturday for their first game since March and coach Vicente Moreno has said he will be careful not to wind up the Catalan side's record scorer this time.

Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick when the teams met in December during a 5-2 win for Barca at the Camp Nou and Moreno said a confrontation with the Argentine in the first half of that match may have motivated him to do more.

"I won't be having another run in with Messi, it went pretty badly the last time as he ended up scoring three goals," Moreno told Spanish radio station Onda Cero before the game.

Barca were leading Mallorca 2-1 when Messi faced a strong tackle by Joan Sastre and earned a foul that Moreno disputed, which led to a very angry reaction from the Argentine.

Messi then scored his second goal and Luis Suarez struck again immediately after, with the Barca skipper scoring one more in the second half to complete his treble.

"It was a foul but at the time I didn't think it was and I told the referee and that didn't go down well with Messi. There was an exchange of words and that was that," Moreno said of the discussion on a podcast with Spanish journalist Edu Pino.

"The big exchange happened in the tunnel at halftime, when Messi told me they were going to put seven goals past us and he said the same to Luis Suarez.”

"They didn't manage seven goals but after the game my players said I was responsible for the defeat because I had angered Leo. He is the best player in the world, look at the character he has."

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