Olympic Champion: I earn Br 40 million while someone earns nothing

"It's not easy to find out about the salaries - it's a commercial secret, which we cannot discuss on the phone," - says chief accountant of the "Neman" hockey club.

This club can hardly be called the elite of the Belarusian ice hockey, although it has shown good results in the recent months. When Deputy Prime Minister Anatol Tozik outraged about high salaries of hockey players and footballers he probably meant other clubs – the hockey and football "Dynama", "Younatstva", BATE.

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"It is beyond common sense" - Tozik comments on the average monthly salary of 420 million roubles (about 50,000 dollars). These are the salaries supposedly paid to the players of one of the top clubs.

In spring of 2012, Pressball revealed the salaries of “Dynama” Minsk players - in average, about 23 thousand dollars a month. The website goals.by claims that the salaries of the best players in the Belarusians Championship are about 10 thousand dollars a month.

London Olympic champion Syarhei Martynau says he earns Br 40 million (4650 dollars) a month now. His less successful colleagues often live by ... army wages.

"I have Br 40 million. And someone don’t have that, people get their salaries in the army, in accordance with the position and rank. There is a network, according to which livelihoods depend on the sporting achievements. "

Euroradio has found out that a young footballer who has just got into the first team can earn almost as much as the Olympic champion - 34 million roubles a month. Even if his club achieves only a draw.

As for the shooters' wages, they are reconsidered every six months depending on medals. No achievements - no money.

“If there are no super-achievements, the wages are not high, they are rather ridiculous, frankly speaking. If someone fails to get to the finals, he received nothing, a zero". 

As for getting zero results, Belarusian hockey players and footballers can compete with many others. However, this does not affect their wages, unlike the shooters'.