Chile manager Rueda to take 50% pay cut

SANTIAGO - Chile national team coach Reinaldo Rueda has agreed to take a 50% pay cut during football's coronavirus-enforced paralysis.

The 62-year-old Colombian made the sacrifice to protect his colleagues from greater reductions, according to widespread media reports that quoted a National Association of Professional Football (ANFP) official.

The ANFP - Chilean football's governing body - earlier announced that several of its employees would be affected by salary decreases, without revealing names or saying how much would be deducted. However, it did confirm that the measure would apply to national team coaching staff.

The combined wage bills of Rueda and his assistants are said to total $3.5 million.

Rueda has been Chile's head coach since January 2018, when he replaced Juan Antonio Pizzi after the side's failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The South American zone qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup - which had been due to begin late last month - have been postponed indefinitely because of the coronavirus pandemic.