German football chief Fritz Keller proposes salary caps to help sport through coronavirus pandemic

The head of the German Football Association (DFB) Fritz Keller has proposed a salary cap to help make the sport more sustainable following the coronavirus pandemic.

Germany’s top two divisions restarted on Saturday with the Bundesliga becoming the first major European football league to resume after a continent-wide stoppage due to the coronavirus.

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But DFB president Keller believes the global health crisis is a chance for football to adopt a salary cap system.

“We must bring professional football closer to the people again,” he told the federation’s website. “We have to think about a salary cap.

“Commissions for player advisors and huge transfer sums are increasingly irritating society and alienate it from our beloved sport.

“[The coronavirus crisis] offers the opportunity to look ahead and to reposition football in order to preserve it for future generations.”

Keller also feels football’s coronavirus testing capacity could help society in general after thorough testing of players and staff saw Germany’s top two tiers successfully get back underway at the weekend.

He said: “I see football as having a responsibility to contribute… Preventive and large-scale testing could help to contain the virus until a vaccine is developed.

“Should politics and science decide in favour of preventive testing, football will make its contribution to the success of this measure: with its unifying power, popularity, logistics and infrastructure.”

(c) Sky Sports 2020: German football chief Fritz Keller proposes salary caps to help sport through coronavirus pandemic