Soccer Team Fines its Players for Losing Games
We always knew that things get taken to extreme levels in soccer, but we never knew it applied to team owners too. It’s one thing for fans to bring a dead body to a game and celebrate, but fining players for losing games? Is that even fair? In the Ukraine, apparently it is.
Nigeria midfielder Yusuf Atanda Ayila, who plays for Dynamo Kiev, told BBC Sport that players are not paid if the team doesn’t win. “It’s really difficult in Dynamo. If you’re there you always want to win, because if you lose they take it out of your salary. You don’t get paid for a difficult home or away draw, so at the club it’s all about winning and nothing else.”
Oh OK, so you mean it’s like big-time college football? Boosters grease your pockets after victories but you don’t get paid following defeats. That makes sense. Seriously though, could you imagine something like this going down in the U.S.? We have athletes on guaranteed contracts getting paid millions for hardly any contributions. We have guys who are retired but are making millions from teams. Yet here’s a professional team that doesn’t play its players after losses. That wouldn’t slide the states, but you better believe the Yankees would be the first team to consider it.
By the way, that is Dynamo Kiev pictured. They’re only celebrating because they got paid that week.
