BUSINESSES AROUND THE WORLD have been facing a financial strife due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and some in the Indian football circuit are facing the same.
Several Hyderabad FC players, as well as former head coach Phil Brown, have not received any payment since the beginning of 2020, according to a report on Hindustan Times.
A player told the paper on condition of anonimity that payments at Hyderabad FC had always been delayed and after December it stopped altogether,
"The foreign players are in discussion because all the payments from Hyderabad happened with delays of 2 or 3 months (sic). Of course, understandable because is a new franchise. The point is: all the deadlines have been told with lies and now with the corona outbreak, they said it is not possible to make any payment."
A franchise official cited COVID-19 as the reason the payments have been delayed and assured they were in discussion with AIFF and the players regarding this.
This is not the first time delayed payments have plagued this particular franchise, which till 2019 was known as FC Pune City. Reports surfaced early last year of payments being delayed, months before Pune City was closed down to make way for Hyderabad FC. That time, Phil Brown had played a key role maintaining calm in the dressing room as players grew frustrated over delayed payments. This time, as the former manager, Brown has taken a more vocal approach, contacting the Federation to seek a fast resolution.