Fra the Washington Post i 2014
"Russian Premier League soccer clubs will reportedly ask players to take pay cuts due to the falling value of the ruble. The Associated Press has the details:
All 16 top-flight clubs agreed to ask players to accept revised deals pegged to a fixed exchange rate that is significantly lower than the current rate, according to documents released by the league.
That would effectively mean pay cuts of more than 20 per cent for most of the league’s senior players.
The request comes under mounting concerns that the devalued ruble, which recently sank in value against the dollar and Euro by almost half, is affecting the future of other Russian professional sports leagues. For example, the problem of the falling ruble is so bad for some KHL hockey teams that its threatening their very existence, as well as the clubs’ abilities to pay their players, who some fear may strike.
The problem, so far, is not reported to be as bad in Russia’s Premier League, but the outlook is not entirely rosy.
Besides the salary cuts, Grigory Ivanov, president of the club Ural, explained another problem his team and others are facing because of the changes in conversion rates, which is affecting recruiting.
“All of us from the beginning were designated salaries in rubles. Russian players are not very affected by the change in conversion rate … [but] foreign players will feel it. Now they’re being sent home with half as much,” he told SovSport.ru on Friday, a day after the news broke that the teams would ask their players to take a pay cut. Ivanov added the falling ruble will likely stop Ural from acquiring any more players from abroad. Instead, he says, Ural will scout young, Russian players only.
There’s also fear that non-Russian players who already play in the country will leave, such as Brazilian star Hulk of Zenit St. Petersburg, who will likely get an exception from the upcoming cuts because his salary was guaranteed in a foreign currency, according to Russian sports agent Vladimir Abramov. Even more worrisome, Abramov says, is top-level Russian players leaving to go abroad, as well.
“The best of the Russians will go to where all the contracts are guaranteed in dollars [or other foreign currency],” he told SovSport."