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Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
FIFPRO, the global professional footballers union, have issued a grim warning the multi-billion dollar football industry could plunge into unprecedented chaos, and possible financial ruin, as it battles strong headwinds ushered in by the coronavirus outbreak.

The Dutch-based organisation’s announcement coincided with revelations that a staggering £1 billion has been wiped off the value of Manchester United, on the stock market, in the first week since fixtures in the English Premiership were put on hold until, at least, April 3.

The Red Devils’ share price plummeted from £16,53, at the start of the year, to just over £9,92 at the start of a very trying week for the game.

KPMG announced on Tuesday Europe’s Big Five Leagues — the English Premiership, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A and the French Ligue 1 — could lose a combined €4 billion because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The audit, tax and advisory firm predicted the financial impact was likely to hit the English Premiership, where Zimbabwe international midfielder, Marvelous Nakamba, plays for Aston Villa, the hardest with losses of up to €1,25 billion.

The English Championship clubs, including Charlton Athletic — where Zimbabwe international striker, Macauley Bonne, plies his trade — have also been badly hit.

Charlton have already been in chaos, bedeviled by some boardroom challenges, are likely to plunge even further into strife because of the coronavirus crisis.

A study by Spanish radio station, Cope, said La Liga clubs were likely to lose over €600 million in income from television, and ticketing, if the matches were not held again this season.

They said certain clubs could even suffer considerably and the knock-on effect, on the downstream industries which employ about 200 000 people, was likely to be disastrous.

South African clubs, where the majority of Zimbabwean players are based, are unlikely to be spared with reports this week showing that Johann Rupert, the owner of Supa Diski side Stellenbosch — who recently lured Ovidy Karuru into their ranks — shedding off US$1 billion in the last week, leaving him worth US$5 billion.

FIFPro, who represents about 63 national players’ representatives, including the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe, and more than 65 000 professional footballers, have become one of the most influential voices in world football.

They were widely consulted by the UEFA leaders ahead of the historic decision to postpone Euro 2020 by a year.

Virtually, all the football leagues around the world have been forced to take a break, as authorities try to minimise the risk of having large crowds which the virus could use as a platform to spread its deadly wing.

The domestic Premiership, and all the country’s lower division football leagues, were forced to postpone the start of their programmes, until, at least, in June.

ZIFA yesterday advised their affiliates of the developments.

‘‘His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Cde Mnangagwa yesterday (Tuesday) declared coronavirus (Covid-19) a national disaster and has outlined a number of measures to combat the scourge, including temporary banning of gatherings exceeding 100 people,’’ a statement released by the association’s spokesperson, Xolisani Gwesela, read.

‘‘ZIFA, as a law-abiding institution, will comply with Government’s directive and the Executive Committee has resolved as follows:

All football matches and gatherings are hereby suspended with immediate effect.

The African Nations Championships (CHAN) camp will be dissolved on Wednesday 18 March 2020. The Confederation of African Football has also taken a decision to postpone the 2020 Cameron CHAN finals that had been set for April 4-25.

Under-20 Women camp will also be called off on Wednesday, 18 March 2020. Our wish was for both teams to stay in camp longer and prepare adequately for the upcoming fixtures but the Executive Committee has taken this position in the interest of the safety & health of all stakeholders.’’

The domestic football clubs, who have a huge constituency which gets a chunk of its funding from gate receipts,are likely to be hit very hard.

They still have to pay the terms of the contracts, which they entered into with players at the start of the year, without a game being played.

Some sponsors, who have joined the domestic football bandwagon on the basis of deriving mileage from the publicity that comes when matches are being played, appear to have also taken a back seat.

Jonas Baer-Hoffman, the general secretary of FIFPro, said he expects things to get worse before they can start to get better again.

“For the first time in decades, we’re facing a real, consistent economic crisis in the industry,” he said. “We must look at the socio-economic impact of coronavirus.

“Not just the players, but other people employed through professional football — our industry employs hundreds of thousands. There is the potential for it to turn ugly very quickly.

“For the majority of our membership, male and female, the loss of income is as threatening as for any other worker and we are getting the first messages of lay-offs of players, withholding of wages and clubs being threatened.

“We know how football clubs budgets are managed. They’re always right at the line or above it in terms of liquidity. If we don’t respond quickly, in terms of stabilising the cash flow, we could see mass redundancies and mass lay-offs of players and other staff within weeks.

“In Ireland or the Nordic countries, we have the first measure being taken that could affect the employment of players. Once those jobs are gone, and those clubs are bankrupt, it is difficult for them to recover once coronavirus is over.”

Scottish League One leaders, Raith Rovers, announced they want to raise £25,000 from fans to help them offset the financial challenges brought about by suspension of activities.

“We recognise this may be a challenging time for many people,” the club said. “However, the club have been contacted by a number of fans sympathetic to the financial situation we face, and asking how they can make a financial contribution at this time.

“Every Scottish football club, at our level, has a heavy reliance on gate income as a main source of revenue.

“Therefore, the cancellation or postponement of home fixtures is a significant issue, particularly as a large amount of costs will still be incurred regardless such as wages, council tax, etc. during this period.

“To compound the issues, we’ve also had to cancel other fundraising events that were planned.”

English National League side, Barnet, have put all the club’s non-playing staff on immediate notice of redundancy after being hit by the disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

Club owner, businessman Tony Kleanthous, told the Guardian said they had budgeted to lose £100 000 per month in the hope that, by spending on players’ wages, they could challenge for promotion and keep the academy funding.

FIFPro said they were working with FIFA, as a matter of urgency, to try and secure short-term loans or grants, or guarantee future payments to their members, while also look at how the leagues will deal with completion of their programmes within a short period.